User blog:Jacked Maverick/Distant Shores: The Last “New” Book I’ll Ever Read. (Review)

'''I will be referring to the Distant Shores Main Character by his/her “default” name: “Peyton Bellamy”. The following contains spoilers for only Distant Shores.'''

Yep. I’m doing it. Even after making a big fuss about never returning, I always manage to find an excuse to write yet another blog post. “So what is it, JM? What’s today’s excuse?”

I’m so glad you asked, hypothetical reader.

I figured since this is the last “new” book I’ll ever read, might as well pay my dues by making a review.

The only reason I even finished this book was because of the blog post Pixelberry made. The one where they cancelled five franchises. Along with reiterating that Nightbound & Distant Shores weren’t returning.

https://choices-stories-you-play.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:Jacked_Maverick/My_Thoughts_on_the_Seven_Cancelled_Franchises

Even though I was happy at first stuff like that was cancelled, I feel kind of bad now. I understand other people felt really down that their favorites were cancelled. Similar to how I felt about the four other announcements.

Having said that, I will also give Nightbound and Ride or Die: A Bad Boy Romance, Book 1 second chances. Even though unlike Distant Shores, I actually completed over half of them. Nightbound’s Chapter 13 and Ride or Die's Chapter 11. Even though I don’t like them, the fandom backlash makes me rethink my mental mindset.

But we’re not talking about those two now. We’re talking about Distant Shores. The reason this review took a long time to make is because I don’t have a lot to say about it. My feelings can be summed up in just three sentences.

“Distant Shores was not as bad as I thought it was going to be, but I’m still not sad it didn’t get a sequel.” and “Even though Nightbound was a worse book, I would rather have had a sequel to that one instead. At least there was more stuff to talk about there.”

At least I finished Distant Shores. I still have not finished Nightbound so I don’t think I can use that comparison.

Like I said in my “excuse”, since this is the last “new” Choices book I will ever read, I figured I owed it to myself to make one last review. When I say “new” I mean the last one that will be released in terms of chronology. That’s right, I’m still not reading Crimes of Passion, Zombies, or even Foreign Affairs.

=Positives=

Back to what I said in the introduction, Distant Shores wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I thought it was going to be a slow paced romp, but I thought it was well paced. But that’s probably because I read it when all 16 chapters were already out.

To get it out of the way, I really liked the song they played! "Holy Ground" by Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem. I still listen to it today. It was an excellent selection. I even checked out other songs by them. :) I may not like pirate stories, but I like pirate music. Check out "Mutiny, Fluently" and "Pirate That!" both by Ryan Estrada on YouTube.

Charlie Smith
I surprisingly liked Charlie Smith! She is the first female love interest (in a non-genderlocked book) in a long time I had any form of attachment to. Not since Bianca Sandoval from America’s Most Eligible… in 2018. Sure, I liked the It Lives and Big Sky Country ladies (Woods: Ava Cunningham & Stacy Green. Beneath: Danni Asturias & Imogen Wescott. Big Sky Country: Asha Roanhorse & Juliette Mendoza.), but I couldn’t choose between the both options in the three books. They were all great! Bianca was the last one I chose over the other options. Yes, even though Charlie was the only female love interest in this book, she was still pretty great. I don’t know if I’m the only one who sees this, but I felt like Charlie was the main love interest in Distant Shores. Not Edward Mortemer. Charlie just appeared more and seemed to bond with our MC in the most “free” scenes. She was kind of like a more charming version of Helene Leventis from The Crown & The Flame. Charlie had a strong sense of justice and fairness, but was less brutal about it.

Charlie was sweet and caring to us, a complete stranger! While she was taking us under her wing and teaching us to be a pirate, Edward was busy in his quarters. Sulking about getting back at the admiral's and not being the every book forced male love interest. I think that’s a good thing? Because I didn’t want a repeat of Nik Ryder and Logan (Ride or Die), who in my opinion were insufferably forced. I say “I think” because I get other people loved Edward and he was heavily paywalled in around the first half of the book.

Instead, we got a repeat of Adrian Raines and Sawyer Oakley: even though they were the “main” love interest, they weren’t forced at all and we could be “just friends” with them. :)

Having said all of that… it really isn’t saying much. Yeah, I liked Charlie, but I wouldn’t put her in my top ten favorite female LI’s list. But hey, with the losing streak Choices has been having on me with female LI’s (in gender of choice books), it’s a miracle I even like her! More than Shreya Mistry, Nia Ellarious, and the other “fan favorites” we’ve gotten in 2019 and beyond.

The Ending
Unlike the rest of the fandom, I actually liked the ending! I thought it was bittersweet how we heard the legend of Peyton Bellamy. How we heard of all our adventures and how our LIs’ final days were spent roaming the open seas with hope to see us again. That really got me in the feels. 😿

Maybe I liked the ending because I already knew it wasn’t going to get a sequel, so I read the finale as the proper send off. But I am going to make the bold-ish claim that (in my opinion!) excluding Bloodbound's series finale, Distant Shores has my favorite ending. The way the ending was a little sad and made us long for the days of adventure really got to me. Leaving everything s/he ever knew for the possibility to regain what was once hers/his. What better way to do so than having to team up with an antagonist?

I’m sure it’s because everyone else loved this book that they were upset that it wasn’t getting a sequel that they automatically hated the ending just because.

But like I said in the introduction… I am still not sad it’s not getting a sequel. Really, the ending was the only thing in this book I could point to and say “aw, that’s good”.

Yes. The only thing. The Jonas/Ginny thing next subheading is a close second.

Mutiny, Fluently
I thought Robert was an “okay” antagonist. I would have liked his mutiny plot if it was built up more and we found where each crew member stood. I did think as the mutiny was taking place, the admiral's ship was on the horizon. It was a great sense of danger.

The only part of the mutiny that actually affected me was Ginny crying over Jonas leaving.That got me. Especially when we had to convince him to stay. I took that diamond choice without hesitation. That’s what good art does, it makes you feel something.

Unfortunately, everyone else’s story wasn’t justified on them joining the mutiny. Like Samuel and Kendrick.

=Negatives=

No subheadings for this one.

When this book was first announced, I was “mildly” interested. Pirates aren’t my thing, but it was certainly better than anything we got in the second half of 2019. But when the first trailer dropped, it ruined any interest I had. The time travel aspect turned me away. I get why they couldn’t make it present day, since pirates today use more civilized warfare than they did back then. But I am not a fan of period pieces. There are a few exceptions of course, but the period piece combined with the pirates turned me away.

The only reason I even gave it a chance was because we could choose our gender. But to be honest, I probably would have given it a chance anyway if it was genderlocked to be female. I would have been upset at myself that I gave The Nanny Affair, Book 1 and Baby Bump, Book 1 a chance and not a pirate adventure book.

This one’s minor, but by the time we met Oliver Cochrane for the first time, it was pretty clear he was the “pirate” hunter being hyped up. He was a pre-book sneak peak and he appeared in Chapter 7, almost halfway done with the book. I have no real feelings on this one; I just wanted to mention that as a negative.

Speaking of the second half, it felt completely disconnected from the first half. This book didn't need the time travel aspect. The goal to go to a magical island to seal the rift in time felt like a totally random thing pirates have to take care of. The first half felt pretty grounded. It was restricted to us falling back in time, but that's it. I know I said I didn't really like pirates that much, but I would have rather have had something that focuses on battling the admiral or rival pirates on our own terms without magic.

=An Ending=

So… those were my thoughts. I don’t have a lot to say because this was kind of a nothing book.

Even though this is the final new book I’ll ever read by Choices (made evident by Pixelberry cancelling Most Wanted, Hero, and It Lives), I still consider Blades of Light & Shadow, Book 1 to be my spiritual ending. Distant Shores didn’t make me rage quit, nor was there a lot riding on it to redeem the app as a whole.

I don’t know whether I liked Distant Shores or not. If I had to choose, I’d say I didn’t. They didn’t do anything “inherently” bad, it’s just the fact that they didn’t do anything remarkable.

A friend of mine said: "I was disappointed because I'm a pirate nerd. I didn't want to see doll-like faces, characters, polished to perfection. I really hated the ridiculous time traveling part. I wanted some mild violence, historically accurate clothes, Maggie to be an LI. I expected it to be a good pirate story, but I just got a cheap romance. Like these romance novels for bored housewives. Even the book cover was screaming that vibe for me. But that was my mistake to expect something different than that."

In my 38 Choices book ranking (not counting anything Queen B, Book 1 and onward), this is number 22. Under The Haunting of Braidwood Manor and over Class Act. Still in my bottom half.

Now that I finished this, I’m going to give Nightbound and Ride or Die: A Bad Boy Romance, Book 1 another chance. Afterwards, maybe I’ll give them their own reviews. :) In Nightbound’s case, a remaster. A re-review.