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Nexus House #1
The Final Stand: A Colonial Fleet Novel
In the 31st century, humanity stands on the precipice of extinction.
“The story has extensive worldbuilding, using each new revelation and twist to add interest to the future society it creates.” —Library Journal
The human colonies throughout the galaxy have been decimated by the relentless assault of the Korilian Empire, leaving Earth as the final refuge. Humankind’s last hope rests on the tactical prowess of Admiral Jon McCarthy and the foresight of the Nexus House, an ancient conclave of clairvoyants who have long guided humanity's path.
With the destruction of Earth nearing, the discovery of Lara Anderson, a woman with the rare and forbidden ability to read minds, offers a glimmer of hope. Against all protocols, Rhea Sidener, the visionary leader of the Nexus House, chooses to harness Lara's abilities, believing her to be the key to altering the course of the war.
As the Korilian armada prepares for its final assault, the fate of humankind hangs in the balance, dependent on the execution of a daring plan that defies the odds and tests the limits of human courage and resolve.
Discover The Final Stand by bestselling author Rick Campbell, a must-read for enthusiasts of epic science fiction. Fans of Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey and Frank Herbert’s iconic Dune will find themselves captivated by Campbell’s thrilling new space adventure.
___________________
Praise for The Final
“…a testament to mankind's determination to triumph against all odds.” —Chris Pourteau, bestselling author of the award-winning SynCorp Saga
“If you’re a fan of epic sci-fi, Campbell will not disappoint.”—Raquel Byrnes, author of The Memory Bank
“The story has extensive worldbuilding, using each new revelation and twist to add interest to the future society it creates.” —Library Journal
The human colonies throughout the galaxy have been decimated by the relentless assault of the Korilian Empire, leaving Earth as the final refuge. Humankind’s last hope rests on the tactical prowess of Admiral Jon McCarthy and the foresight of the Nexus House, an ancient conclave of clairvoyants who have long guided humanity's path.
With the destruction of Earth nearing, the discovery of Lara Anderson, a woman with the rare and forbidden ability to read minds, offers a glimmer of hope. Against all protocols, Rhea Sidener, the visionary leader of the Nexus House, chooses to harness Lara's abilities, believing her to be the key to altering the course of the war.
As the Korilian armada prepares for its final assault, the fate of humankind hangs in the balance, dependent on the execution of a daring plan that defies the odds and tests the limits of human courage and resolve.
Discover The Final Stand by bestselling author Rick Campbell, a must-read for enthusiasts of epic science fiction. Fans of Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey and Frank Herbert’s iconic Dune will find themselves captivated by Campbell’s thrilling new space adventure.
___________________
Praise for The Final
“…a testament to mankind's determination to triumph against all odds.” —Chris Pourteau, bestselling author of the award-winning SynCorp Saga
“If you’re a fan of epic sci-fi, Campbell will not disappoint.”—Raquel Byrnes, author of The Memory Bank
336 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 22, 2025
393 people are currently reading
106 people want to read
About the author
Rick Campbell
13 books342 followersRICK CAMPBELL, a retired Navy Commander, served on four nuclear-powered submarines, finishing his career with tours in the Pentagon and the Washington Navy Yard. On his last submarine, he was one of the two men whose permission is required to launch the submarine's nuclear-warhead-armed missiles.
Upon retirement from the Navy, Rick was offered a two-book deal by Macmillan / St. Martin's Press for his novel The Trident Deception, which was hailed by Booklist as "The best submarine novel written in the last thirty years, since Tom Clancy's classic - The Hunt for Red October". His first six books were Barnes & Noble Top-10 and Amazon #1 bestsellers, and the 7th and 8th books in the series are scheduled for release in April 2024 and spring 2025.
To learn more, visit Rick Campbell's website and his "Submarine 101" page at www.rickcampbellauthor.com.
Upon retirement from the Navy, Rick was offered a two-book deal by Macmillan / St. Martin's Press for his novel The Trident Deception, which was hailed by Booklist as "The best submarine novel written in the last thirty years, since Tom Clancy's classic - The Hunt for Red October". His first six books were Barnes & Noble Top-10 and Amazon #1 bestsellers, and the 7th and 8th books in the series are scheduled for release in April 2024 and spring 2025.
To learn more, visit Rick Campbell's website and his "Submarine 101" page at www.rickcampbellauthor.com.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 24, 2025
Make up your mind which genre occult or military and physics? Oh my
Enjoyed the story but the nexus thing is far fetched. A murderous group protecting their power but no means of financial support? The physics part, or I should say lack of physics is screamingly frustrating! Order to helm bring the ship to a HALT? In space? Like stop? In space? Everything is moving in space, there is no stop unless it is in relationship to another object! And...and shock wave? In space? There is debris field spreading but no shock wave! You need atmosphere for that! Thank god you didn't use nucs. Read a physics book or any Honor series book by Weber, they are the same thing after all. Comment from bob Slater using wife's Amazon account. If you want free advice on this reach me at bobdaman6 at outlook com. I don't have a physics degree but I have read the entire honor series and actually understood the science.
Enjoyed the story but the nexus thing is far fetched. A murderous group protecting their power but no means of financial support? The physics part, or I should say lack of physics is screamingly frustrating! Order to helm bring the ship to a HALT? In space? Like stop? In space? Everything is moving in space, there is no stop unless it is in relationship to another object! And...and shock wave? In space? There is debris field spreading but no shock wave! You need atmosphere for that! Thank god you didn't use nucs. Read a physics book or any Honor series book by Weber, they are the same thing after all. Comment from bob Slater using wife's Amazon account. If you want free advice on this reach me at bobdaman6 at outlook com. I don't have a physics degree but I have read the entire honor series and actually understood the science.
June 1, 2025
Wow! What a space battle! I couldn’t put the latter part of this book down to save my life! Thousands of starships engaged in a massive battle with Earth as the prize. The writer describes all the critical actions very clearly and does a wonderful job of still surprising the reader to the end.
Earth has been at war for thirty years! At war for thirty years; I can’t imagine that kind of war. The Korilians just appeared out of deep space attacking one of Earth’s fledgling colonies. Earth had sent forces to stop the attack but it didn’t help. The fleet was overmatched and out-gunned from the start. The Korilians then sent ground troops to the surface and destroyed every human still alive. The did not take prisoners. The colonies meager resistance allowed the humans to get their first glimpse of what this new enemy looked like and it wasn’t pretty. Korilians were ten-feet tall, black insect-like creatures. They had “six limbs with razor-sharp edges that sliced through human flesh and bone with ease.” 1 They began attacking every single Earth colony methodically destroying any Earth fleet responses and then sending in their ground forces.
1st Fleet Admiral Jon McCarthy was on his flag ship commanding this latest engagement trying to protect the colony planet Ritalis. Beside him was Regina Caine, a Nexus Guide whose job was to see potential future events during battle and alert the commander to what she sees in her visions. Yeah, this is kind of farfetched, but I guess there were or are people in this version of history that can see into the future. Some have limited insight of only a few minutes and then they don’t actually know what they saw. Yet, Nexus Guides stood next to every fleet commander during battle and did what they could. Admiral McCarthy and Regina had been together for five years of the war and were quite the team. Admiral McCarthy, although very young for an Admiral, had proven himself a strategic and tactical genius throughout this war. Many thought that if not for Admiral McCarthy, Earth would have already fallen.
Yet, this battle over Ritalis isn’t going as planned which wasn’t that unusual. Then Regina had a vision and it was red. As she told this to the Admiral he commanded the bridge shield doors be closed at once. But, it was too late. Four Korilian dreadnoughts had fired their pulse cannons at the same time and place with the command ship the target. The bridge couldn’t withstand that much firepower and shrapnel went flying everywhere. Admiral McCarthy felt the pain in his chest immediately, but he looked over to Regina and saw a huge piece of Kevlar sticking out of her stomach. He reached behind her to support or body and felt the other end of the shard. Regina died in his arms.
So this story is really about finding Admiral Jon McCarthy a new Nexus Guide. These Guides came from House Nexus which was currently ruled by The One. She was a Placidia Nexus Level Ten, the highest level attainable. She had been leading House Nexus this entire war starting when she was only seventeen. Like everything else, the war had cost House Nexus a lot. The Colonial Council had demanded that House Nexus produce more Level Tens to help in the war, therefore The One had put all available Level Nines to the “Test”. Most had failed which left them locked in a reality not of this world. Other Nexi were not in agreement with The One following the edicts of the Colonial Council.
But that wasn’t The One’s problem today. She had to find a Guide to replace Regina and assist Admiral McCarthy. The Korilians were amassing a huge armada that was heading straight for Earth. If McCarthy survived his latest wounds, which it appeared he would, then he’d need a fully trained and ready Nexus Guide. House Nexus had none! But they did know of a young lady on Ritalis who possessed some very significant talent. Maybe she could be taught and taught quickly to aid Admiral McCarthy. That is if she wasn’t already dead. She hadn’t been on any of the last evacuation shuttles that the fleet had sent to Ritalis. Someone was going to have to go rescue her and right now!
I enjoyed this book very, very much. It was easy to read and although this House Nexus stuff is kind of far out there, it was easy to understand. I like that most all the important characters were given backgrounds so you can understand where they are coming from. And again, the battle for Earth was written in a very descriptive manner that made me want to read until the very early hours of the morning and I started reading at 11:30 pm that night!
You can bet I’m going to continue reading this series. Book 2, “Descent into Hellios”, is not out yet, but should be available on Amazon by 15 July 2024. I’ll be waiting!
---
1. Rick Campbell - “The Final Stand: A Colonial Fleet Novel (Nexus House Book 1)”
==[Note: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be published on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. Once the ban is lifted, assuming it does get lifted, I’ll go back and post this to Amazon.]==
Earth has been at war for thirty years! At war for thirty years; I can’t imagine that kind of war. The Korilians just appeared out of deep space attacking one of Earth’s fledgling colonies. Earth had sent forces to stop the attack but it didn’t help. The fleet was overmatched and out-gunned from the start. The Korilians then sent ground troops to the surface and destroyed every human still alive. The did not take prisoners. The colonies meager resistance allowed the humans to get their first glimpse of what this new enemy looked like and it wasn’t pretty. Korilians were ten-feet tall, black insect-like creatures. They had “six limbs with razor-sharp edges that sliced through human flesh and bone with ease.” 1 They began attacking every single Earth colony methodically destroying any Earth fleet responses and then sending in their ground forces.
1st Fleet Admiral Jon McCarthy was on his flag ship commanding this latest engagement trying to protect the colony planet Ritalis. Beside him was Regina Caine, a Nexus Guide whose job was to see potential future events during battle and alert the commander to what she sees in her visions. Yeah, this is kind of farfetched, but I guess there were or are people in this version of history that can see into the future. Some have limited insight of only a few minutes and then they don’t actually know what they saw. Yet, Nexus Guides stood next to every fleet commander during battle and did what they could. Admiral McCarthy and Regina had been together for five years of the war and were quite the team. Admiral McCarthy, although very young for an Admiral, had proven himself a strategic and tactical genius throughout this war. Many thought that if not for Admiral McCarthy, Earth would have already fallen.
Yet, this battle over Ritalis isn’t going as planned which wasn’t that unusual. Then Regina had a vision and it was red. As she told this to the Admiral he commanded the bridge shield doors be closed at once. But, it was too late. Four Korilian dreadnoughts had fired their pulse cannons at the same time and place with the command ship the target. The bridge couldn’t withstand that much firepower and shrapnel went flying everywhere. Admiral McCarthy felt the pain in his chest immediately, but he looked over to Regina and saw a huge piece of Kevlar sticking out of her stomach. He reached behind her to support or body and felt the other end of the shard. Regina died in his arms.
So this story is really about finding Admiral Jon McCarthy a new Nexus Guide. These Guides came from House Nexus which was currently ruled by The One. She was a Placidia Nexus Level Ten, the highest level attainable. She had been leading House Nexus this entire war starting when she was only seventeen. Like everything else, the war had cost House Nexus a lot. The Colonial Council had demanded that House Nexus produce more Level Tens to help in the war, therefore The One had put all available Level Nines to the “Test”. Most had failed which left them locked in a reality not of this world. Other Nexi were not in agreement with The One following the edicts of the Colonial Council.
But that wasn’t The One’s problem today. She had to find a Guide to replace Regina and assist Admiral McCarthy. The Korilians were amassing a huge armada that was heading straight for Earth. If McCarthy survived his latest wounds, which it appeared he would, then he’d need a fully trained and ready Nexus Guide. House Nexus had none! But they did know of a young lady on Ritalis who possessed some very significant talent. Maybe she could be taught and taught quickly to aid Admiral McCarthy. That is if she wasn’t already dead. She hadn’t been on any of the last evacuation shuttles that the fleet had sent to Ritalis. Someone was going to have to go rescue her and right now!
I enjoyed this book very, very much. It was easy to read and although this House Nexus stuff is kind of far out there, it was easy to understand. I like that most all the important characters were given backgrounds so you can understand where they are coming from. And again, the battle for Earth was written in a very descriptive manner that made me want to read until the very early hours of the morning and I started reading at 11:30 pm that night!
You can bet I’m going to continue reading this series. Book 2, “Descent into Hellios”, is not out yet, but should be available on Amazon by 15 July 2024. I’ll be waiting!
---
1. Rick Campbell - “The Final Stand: A Colonial Fleet Novel (Nexus House Book 1)”
==[Note: As of 12/03/2023, this will not be published on Amazon since I have been banned from posting reviews for some unknown reason. Once the ban is lifted, assuming it does get lifted, I’ll go back and post this to Amazon.]==
October 1, 2025
WOW. I had no idea I would like this as much as I did!
This is war. A whole lot of strategy and battles in space. A ton of people die, starships blow up, planets and territory are won and lost. But the way you see it happening! Flanking a line of ships, the way they hide behind each other and sneak up on each other and when they run out of shields and generators and FTL drives, they just ram into each other.
One way Campbell does it is to endear you to the characters. In one instance, a captain is introduced with just information to prompt you to care about him. Then he dies. You have no idea of his backstory, just the brief glance at this guy and his courage.
The politics got a little tedious, probably because there are the usual cast - the irritating pompous windbag, the calm one that is the voice of reason, the thoughtful one that can see both sides and is non-comittal, and the One in charge who brings the idea and has the final say. This has the feel (to me) of the vulcan culture in Star Trek; it's not similar at all but has that same feel. Somewhat mystical, cold in its logic. It differs greatly with the antagonistic "houses" that have fought each other. And then you have the whole number system of special people with powers. I'm not a fan of mixing magic and scifi but in this case, it's more alien genetics than anything else.
I got to the end and realised how much I absolutely loved the story. Moved immediately on to the next book in the series. And the narration by Greg Tremblay was just stellar. Made it even better.
This is war. A whole lot of strategy and battles in space. A ton of people die, starships blow up, planets and territory are won and lost. But the way you see it happening! Flanking a line of ships, the way they hide behind each other and sneak up on each other and when they run out of shields and generators and FTL drives, they just ram into each other.
One way Campbell does it is to endear you to the characters. In one instance, a captain is introduced with just information to prompt you to care about him. Then he dies. You have no idea of his backstory, just the brief glance at this guy and his courage.
The politics got a little tedious, probably because there are the usual cast - the irritating pompous windbag, the calm one that is the voice of reason, the thoughtful one that can see both sides and is non-comittal, and the One in charge who brings the idea and has the final say. This has the feel (to me) of the vulcan culture in Star Trek; it's not similar at all but has that same feel. Somewhat mystical, cold in its logic. It differs greatly with the antagonistic "houses" that have fought each other. And then you have the whole number system of special people with powers. I'm not a fan of mixing magic and scifi but in this case, it's more alien genetics than anything else.
I got to the end and realised how much I absolutely loved the story. Moved immediately on to the next book in the series. And the narration by Greg Tremblay was just stellar. Made it even better.
September 5, 2025
Not as good as the author's Trident Deception submarine thriller series.
There's no explanation as to why humanity is at war. The question comes up and it's never answered.
The weapons technology doesn't make sense. A pulse weapon that takes almost a minute to reload? Who in the 31st century would ever put up with that? This sounds reminiscent of either 1) wooden warships firing a broadside, then taking 3-4 minutes to reload, or 2) modern submarine warfare where you fire a torpedo that has an active seeker, wait (sometimes several minutes) for it to hit the target, then fire again (if you fire two torpedoes, they just find each other).
Character development was good in the first part of the book, then went away as there was a lengthy discussion of battle tactics that took up 40+% of the book.
I will read the second book, hoping it gets better. The Trident Deception series was excellent.
There's no explanation as to why humanity is at war. The question comes up and it's never answered.
The weapons technology doesn't make sense. A pulse weapon that takes almost a minute to reload? Who in the 31st century would ever put up with that? This sounds reminiscent of either 1) wooden warships firing a broadside, then taking 3-4 minutes to reload, or 2) modern submarine warfare where you fire a torpedo that has an active seeker, wait (sometimes several minutes) for it to hit the target, then fire again (if you fire two torpedoes, they just find each other).
Character development was good in the first part of the book, then went away as there was a lengthy discussion of battle tactics that took up 40+% of the book.
I will read the second book, hoping it gets better. The Trident Deception series was excellent.
August 5, 2025
The Final Stand: A Colonial Fleet Novel (Nexus House, #1)is part of a proposed 6 part series. It combines science fiction space battles with fantasy imbued characters that that have the ability to see. into the future for short periods of time. These psychics advise ships Fleet officers during battles. The fleet officers need to interpret the visions that the psychics see. There is tension between the Officers and the psychics,Earth and her colonies are losing the war. At the same time there is conflict among the various among the psychics. Campbell uses these conflicts to explore how the characters try to resolve these situations while trying to save Earth from its existential crisis.
I enjoyed the story. Yes Campbell ignores newtonian physics . But he has written complex characters and has them say interesting things.
I enjoyed the story. Yes Campbell ignores newtonian physics . But he has written complex characters and has them say interesting things.
April 15, 2025
I found this to be fascinating. Humans are incredibly disposable in this future war against an alien aggressor. I enjoyed getting to know the players involved and the background was well done with detailed battle scenes. I didn’t notice the ‘book 1’ until the final battle led to quite the cliffhanger! I enjoyed the space battles and the fight for human survival. I look forward to the next book in this series. Quite a bit of world-building – and I really want to know what happened to a couple of the side characters at the end. Many players introduced for the next book – so maybe I’ll see them again!
April 22, 2025
I received an advanced reader copy of this book for my honest review. I don’t normally read this type book. It took me a while to get into the story. The characters are very good and are well developed. The action was well written and I was able to understand what was happening. The ending battle was exciting and the ending left the reader knowing that there will be more story coming. I’m not sure I would read more books in this series.
June 25, 2025
shoot em up, bang-bang
Formulaic with inadequate character development. Millions, no billions, die and because you find it hard to be attached to nameless characters, you find it hard to feel it. Shoot em up bang bang story and I am sure there are folks who will love it. I may try the second book because I am curious about why the Korellians are trying to wipe out Humans. Hopefully the characters are less stiff.
Formulaic with inadequate character development. Millions, no billions, die and because you find it hard to be attached to nameless characters, you find it hard to feel it. Shoot em up bang bang story and I am sure there are folks who will love it. I may try the second book because I am curious about why the Korellians are trying to wipe out Humans. Hopefully the characters are less stiff.
July 21, 2025
The book was great! I expected the space battles to be a little like ender’s game but this was a bit more technical which I could handle. Having written submarine novels, I was curious on how Mr. Campbell would do in a sci fi environment that he hadn’t previously ventured before so if I didn’t like “the final stand” I would just go back to reading his “The Trident Deception” series but he did so well that I have to keep reading!
December 16, 2024
A quick and easy read, the final battle sequence was novel.
Thanks to the publisher for an advance copy.
Thanks to the publisher for an advance copy.
April 22, 2025
Not a normal reader of this genre, but this one hooked me in. It’s a great read.
August 11, 2025
The Space battle was really good written. My only conplayn is they switch pov to offen in the great last battle and I had a hard time understanding what 8, 9 and 10 can do.
August 19, 2025
It is an ok book. I didn't finish it (maybe 70% done), but the story was just not very interesting. I couldn't connect to the main characters, there is lack of characterization.
October 1, 2025
4.5 stars
June 21, 2025
military sci-fi with a strong fantasy element.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews