FanFic Space Meguca Is About A Meguca In The Space
To The Stars is one of those precious fanworks where the author absolutely pours themselves into it. Bringing post-Madokami magical girls into a military-sci-fi 25th century that ranks rather high on the hardness scale is one thing, but the amount of worldbuilding Hieronym puts into the setting's cultural, psychological, sociological, governmental, and economic aspects is mind-boggling. People who like lots of detail may find this a huge draw.
The characters are also a strong point; some PMMM characters remain on the scene, but there are many magical and nonmagical characters to deal with as well. Ryouko herself is an engaging and sympathetic protagonist, subject to a feeling of listlessness many readers may identify with.
However, if the reader goes into TTS looking for the same stuff they saw in-show, they may not find it. The sheer textual mass of the still-in-progress fic might also turn away readers who prefer shorter works. However, those who enjoy an interesting and deeply-thought-out spin on magical girls (IN SPACE!) may find this to be just what they were looking for.
FanFic Because there is never enough worldbuilding
I'll start by saying that I'm a big fan of this work.
While the characters are indeed a strong point, being well written and sympathetic, the main draw for me was – like the title of this review lets you guess – worldbuilding.
Holy pepperoni the worldbuilding ! The amount of work that went there is staggering, and results in a coherent and very complete universe. The seer amount of text and exposition might not suit everyone, but that's what I liked.
Nevertheless, it is different from the show, so people going for original flavor might want to pass on that one. People that like sci-fy (especially Space Opera) should not.
PS : As a answer to the previous comment (and some notes on the tropes page), I would not say that it "ranks rather high on the hardness scale". I mean, even if one does not take the litteral magic in account, it still is no higher than a soft 3, Honor Harrington style (though it is hard to juge, as every handwave can be justified by said litteral magic)