A caveat before this review gets into the fic itself. My impressions of this series were mainly formed by the drafts released by Hotwire on the EFML. Completed parts, available at his homepage, have not yet reached the end of Book 1 yet. As such, there may still be scope for some change to the fic though the author has asserted that he has a general scheme of how it will all work out. Because most of what I read are draft copies, there are occassionally scenes that have yet to be written, with a line or two indicating what should fill that space.

Ok, on to the review. This is none other than the (in)famous Shinji x Hikari series! Definitely an uncommon pairing, only Mark Eymer's rather old and incomplete 'The Party' comes to mind as another example. The central premise is what difference would it make to the NGE storyline and universe if Shinji and Hikari hooked up? Given that the Shinji x Hikari couple is not a popular one in the current existing body of fanfic, I must applaud Hotwire's effort in making it believable and having been able to sustain it over quite a massive amount of text. As a result of the ups and downs of the relationship, Shinji is quite a different character and this consequently affects much of the NGE plotline. This reinforces my view that Shinji is THE central character of NGE.

Two complaints. Firstly, as the author has acknowledged himself, the spelling, grammar and punctuation can really bite sometimes. Add strange, non-ASCII characters popping up instead of the ASCII double quotation marks. The problem is fairly commonplace even in the completed parts posted on his webpage. The only technical fault that the fic does avoid totally is that, mercifully, the lines are wrapped at about 70 characters per line. The fic does benefit from the c&c of Daniel Snyder but he seems to restrict his comments mainly to questions of plot and character rather than the itty-bitty details of spelling etc.

Secondly, there are times when parts of Book 1 can get a little tedious. Especially when they seem to repeat scenes from the anime. Even if they are for the very valid reason of 'setting the scene.' However, the problem recedes considerably towards the end of Book 1 and in Book 2 when the 'Hikari' effect starts to take hold and make itself felt more strongly. Some scenes from the anime are tweaked in interesting and rewarding ways. There are also brief occasions where Rei is written with great sensitivity and inspiration. That kind of thing always scores brownie points with me. ^_-

Normally a combination of both these types of problems (especially the former) is enough to put off a fic within the first one or two parts. But I would agree with Lara Bartram's view, expressed as a panelist during the Otakon 2000 fanfic panel, that while fics can (with some effort) improve their technical aspects, the most important thing that separates them from the dross is that a good idea. Good ideas are the hardest things to find. And Hotwire's TWS is a positive example of how a good idea can sustain interest. As much as I have complained about execution in the preceding two paragraphs, the text is still definitely readable and of much higher quality than some of the flotsam that were part of that great deluge of NGE fanfic from mid-1998 to early-2000.

All in all, I would recommend this story. Especially for readers who are interested in 'something different', in a painstakingly written and credibly reconstructed NGE series on a tangential trajectory.