sturds wrote:You tell them..."it's fan fiction," and laugh like a madman at people's flabbergasted reactions.
I just realized, print versions like this might be a good way to easy some people into the fandom. You could loan it to someone who's a big reader so they could avoid all the pitfalls of trying to navigate the Fimfiction front page with all its porn, and see what some of the best of the work has to offer.
FO:E is what really got me into the fandom I read the intro and thought "what the heck is this" and a week later "wait, its over...?" I haven't dared to start project horizons, might die from lack of sleep if its as good as this one.
(I never considered myself the reading type either...weird?)
*plus if it's size compares to the original print it'd make a nice conversation starter, it will be finding a happy home on my desk.
Project Horizons is in my opinion, very good. About the story itself relative to the original:
1) You would
really want to break it up when reading it; it's over twice as long as FO:E, (I think, it's way over 1M words at any rate,) and is still ongoing
2) It's more brutal. The setting of the Hoofington wasteland where the vast majority of the tale occurs is significantly harsher than the equestrian wasteland where Littlepip works. If FO:E was normal difficulty, Pink Eyes would be the easy mode, and PH would be Hard/Hardcore.
3) Needless to say, it tries its level best to stay compatible with FO:E canon. I know the official stance is that all sidefics are non-canon, but it weaves its way around the setting so well and fleshes out so much, personally I can't help but think of it as canon too.
4) Respecting the main story, there's minimal (some though) interaction with Littlepip and co. but other important side characters like Spike are, in the manner of (3), expanded upon. Some more so than others.
5) While FO:E looks to the past with great effect on the story in the present, PH does it a lot. Historic plots, tragedies, loves lost and found etc. etc. out the wazoo. Over the story, you look into the past at many characters, both the backgrounds of the mane 6 (duh), and a whole new plethora of characters. Not that FO:E didn't look back, but the intricacy here is astounding sometimes.
6) PH tends to look at the relationships between the characters and dealing with past trauma more too I think. Characters tend to be more damaged (usually because of (2)), so it just happens more often. Doesn't devalue it though in my opinion, the ups and downs lean more towards downs, but the ups feel sweeter as a result and balance out alright. On that note, one particular scene made me cry like a little bitch.
Sooo, yeah. It's a great story, and I really recommend it, but try to avoid reading in one go; you may find yourself getting a bit emotionally wrung out and not enjoying it as much (too much of a good thing and all that), and reading that much in one go can't be healthy.
If you go for it though, enjoy.
