At first the atmosphere gripped me, but the more I read, the more I had to suspend my disbelief. The world was beautiful and colorfully written, but why would people rear such huge animals to wind springs with the calories they could instead have used directly? Why the need to transport energy stored in springs? Why not just transport an animal (ox, donkey, elephant) and make it convert calories to energy on the spot where it's needed? That and some other things that seemed illogical to me was what made me stop reading. I do very much enjoy some of Bacigalupi's other works, though.