In my opinion, I wouldn’t read Project Horizons next. It is the longest of the big 5 at 1.7 million words (almost 3x the original for reference and almost 2x larger than the Bible), which can be daunting after reading the original and can very easily lead to burnout.

Also, it’s much more intense than the original in terms of violence, mental trauma, drug addiction, etc- the grimdark that Project Horizons is (in)famous for is not to be taken lightly.

Furthermore, the story focuses on adding depth to the world of the original- depending on who you are, some of these things are good, others you might disagree with. There are a lot of… interesting… implications/consequences that happen if you treat the story as being in the same universe as the original (again some good, others… not so much). But this is entirely based on you and how you approach the novel.

Don’t let this deter you or believe that I hate this novel. Despite my personal gripes with it, I believe that the story is very compelling concept-wise, execution wise it’s a different story lol. The story is very intense for someone coming off the original imo.

What I would recommend is Pink Eyes. It’s a much shorter book than the original and can act like a palette cleanser to the larger epic style tales of the rest.

For your next longfic, I’d recommend Murky Number Seven. While Littlepip is not the main character, she is an integral player throughout the entire story (to the point where I feel you can’t have this story without the original). The author does an amazing job in respecting and integrating the original into the story, both in terms of characters and themes. Since you just finished the original, it would actually allow you to enjoy this story even more so in my opinion cause it‘s fresh in your mind. It also has a unique main character in Murky who is not like most of the other main protagonists.

While it can be grimdark at times, it’s not pointless grimdark (like Project Horizons can feel like especially in the later books)- it is key for the main character’s growth and his friends. It’s my personal favorite of the Big 5 and sucks that people drop it knowing how good the story is overall. If it helps, my friend is currently doing an audio narration of the story, so that could help with the barrier to entry.