What do you think?
Rate this book
The Last Archide: Complete Series
The Last Archide: A Galactic Epic of War, Legacy, and Redemption
In a universe where ancient empires rise and fall, and the fate of countless worlds hangs in the balance, one man’s journey will change everything.
Oryan Jeckstadt, the son of the legendary warrior Armay, is born into a world shattered by betrayal, war, and genocide. Raised in the brutal confines of a slave quarter, Oryan’s destiny is forged through relentless combat, political intrigue, and the haunting legacy of his father’s sacrifice. From the savage arenas of the Centauri—where warriors fight for honor and survival—to the battlefields of interstellar war, Oryan rises as the undefeated Warlord of Navarus, a symbol of hope and defiance.
But his greatest fight is not just against enemies on the battlefield, but against the shadows of his past and the monstrous forces threatening to consume his world. With the ruthless Damrich, and the terrifying Roanoke—the Butcher—closing in, Oryan must master ancient technologies, confront his own demons, and protect the family he loves.
Alongside Celeste, the fierce and beautiful woman who holds his heart, and their son Asher, Oryan’s quest becomes a race against time to save not only his family but the very soul of the galaxy.
The Last Archide is a sweeping saga of loyalty, sacrifice, and the unbreakable bonds of family set against a backdrop of cosmic warfare and political upheaval. Fans of epic fantasy and science fiction will be captivated by Chad R. Odom’s richly imagined universe, complex characters, and heart-pounding action.
In a universe where ancient empires rise and fall, and the fate of countless worlds hangs in the balance, one man’s journey will change everything.
Oryan Jeckstadt, the son of the legendary warrior Armay, is born into a world shattered by betrayal, war, and genocide. Raised in the brutal confines of a slave quarter, Oryan’s destiny is forged through relentless combat, political intrigue, and the haunting legacy of his father’s sacrifice. From the savage arenas of the Centauri—where warriors fight for honor and survival—to the battlefields of interstellar war, Oryan rises as the undefeated Warlord of Navarus, a symbol of hope and defiance.
But his greatest fight is not just against enemies on the battlefield, but against the shadows of his past and the monstrous forces threatening to consume his world. With the ruthless Damrich, and the terrifying Roanoke—the Butcher—closing in, Oryan must master ancient technologies, confront his own demons, and protect the family he loves.
Alongside Celeste, the fierce and beautiful woman who holds his heart, and their son Asher, Oryan’s quest becomes a race against time to save not only his family but the very soul of the galaxy.
The Last Archide is a sweeping saga of loyalty, sacrifice, and the unbreakable bonds of family set against a backdrop of cosmic warfare and political upheaval. Fans of epic fantasy and science fiction will be captivated by Chad R. Odom’s richly imagined universe, complex characters, and heart-pounding action.
- GenresScience Fiction
748 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 11, 2019
569 people are currently reading
123 people want to read
About the author
Chad R. Odom
14 books13 followersChad R. Odom was raised on starships, swordplay, and stories that asked what happens when ordinary people stand against impossible odds. Born in St. Charles, Missouri, he fell in love with fantasy at eight years old after discovering The Hobbit—a spark that led to decades of rereads of The Lord of the Rings and a lifelong obsession with epic worldbuilding.
His imagination expanded through Star Wars, classic science fiction from Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, and Orson Scott Card, and the mythic storytelling of comic books and superheroes. Combined with a deep interest in history and religion, these influences shaped his fascination with gods, immortals, and the fragile line between power and sacrifice.
A quiet, introspective childhood gave way to discipline and leadership—earning Eagle Scout at fifteen, competing in wrestling, and entering the U.S. Army at seventeen. While serving a mission in Las Vegas from 2001 to 2003, Chad filled battered ninety-nine-cent notebooks with character names, maps, sketches, and plotlines—early fragments of the world that would one day become The Last Archide.
He began writing the series in earnest in 2006. The first novel, Warlord of Navarus, was traditionally published in 2010, but its release fell short of the story’s potential. Rather than abandon the world he had built, Chad tore the series down to its foundations and rebuilt it—just as his publisher collapsed. He turned to self-publishing in 2018, finally releasing the re-forged saga to readers in 2019.
When he’s not writing, Chad enjoys sports, board and card games, film, and reading across genres. He remains active in his faith and local community and lives outside St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife, Katherine, and their children.
Chad is an award-winning epic fantasy and science fiction author who writes for readers who love vast worlds, flawed heroes, ancient powers, and the belief that hope can survive—even when the gods have failed.
His imagination expanded through Star Wars, classic science fiction from Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, and Orson Scott Card, and the mythic storytelling of comic books and superheroes. Combined with a deep interest in history and religion, these influences shaped his fascination with gods, immortals, and the fragile line between power and sacrifice.
A quiet, introspective childhood gave way to discipline and leadership—earning Eagle Scout at fifteen, competing in wrestling, and entering the U.S. Army at seventeen. While serving a mission in Las Vegas from 2001 to 2003, Chad filled battered ninety-nine-cent notebooks with character names, maps, sketches, and plotlines—early fragments of the world that would one day become The Last Archide.
He began writing the series in earnest in 2006. The first novel, Warlord of Navarus, was traditionally published in 2010, but its release fell short of the story’s potential. Rather than abandon the world he had built, Chad tore the series down to its foundations and rebuilt it—just as his publisher collapsed. He turned to self-publishing in 2018, finally releasing the re-forged saga to readers in 2019.
When he’s not writing, Chad enjoys sports, board and card games, film, and reading across genres. He remains active in his faith and local community and lives outside St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife, Katherine, and their children.
Chad is an award-winning epic fantasy and science fiction author who writes for readers who love vast worlds, flawed heroes, ancient powers, and the belief that hope can survive—even when the gods have failed.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
August 11, 2020
The world is at war but there is a much greater danger that they don't even realize. Warriors from another time and place, the Archides have been protecting humans from a threat that once destroyed their own planet. Now the monster has his eyes set on conquering this world. Oryan Jeckstadt has been born into this fight. A slave turned Centauri turned soldier now is the final hope for their savior. He will fight. He will not lose. He made a promise to the love of his life, Celeste to protect their son and keep him safe. If he has to destroy everyone along the way, he will not break his promise.
This is a complicated well thought out series. Intensity. Intrigue. Intelligence. The writing is solid, the detailing elaborate. It doesn't always go the way it's expected or the way you want it to. The descriptions are so vivid, that you take Oryan's journey with him. You are on the dusty stage of the Centauri, the bloody battlefields, and enjoying the much too brief times with Celeste and Asher. I will warn you, this series requires your full attention or it can become confusing. The names are unusual and complicated.
Scott Hart gives this series life. I can't imagine it without his narration. The music adds another level of drama and combined with his voice, it's easy to get swept away by this wonderfully complicated series.
This is a complicated well thought out series. Intensity. Intrigue. Intelligence. The writing is solid, the detailing elaborate. It doesn't always go the way it's expected or the way you want it to. The descriptions are so vivid, that you take Oryan's journey with him. You are on the dusty stage of the Centauri, the bloody battlefields, and enjoying the much too brief times with Celeste and Asher. I will warn you, this series requires your full attention or it can become confusing. The names are unusual and complicated.
Scott Hart gives this series life. I can't imagine it without his narration. The music adds another level of drama and combined with his voice, it's easy to get swept away by this wonderfully complicated series.
June 17, 2022
A fine read but nothing world-changing
The big secret was the power of love. I’m not kidding, that is actually verbatim the entire point of the series.
It’s a decent piece of mixed dystopian/sci-fi literature. But nothing here is particularly earth-shattering. Twists are relatively predictable, he tries very hard to make you think the big bad is “Evil” so there’s stuff that’s unnecessary but just to show how mean he is. I won’t be recommending it to people but I would not recommend against reading it. A good read for not having to think too hard and get carried away with war porn.
Could have used a better editor, quite a few malapropisms and other minor errors.
The plot falls apart toward the end, and some of the supposedly invincible things had very obvious solutions that were only stumbled upon last minute, somehow missed for thousands of years.
Im changing things to not give spoilers but here’s a typical scene from the book:
our ayran soldier man hero defeats an entire enemy base himself, shot numerous times with wounds that we are told repeatedly would stop a normal man. But our hero is driven by his rage which is like a dragon, and his anger at his sad backstory drive him on. Finally he remembers who he is and wonders if he’s losing his humanity by being so badass all the time. Then he sees a cat gracefully walking through rubble…. She used to walk gracefully. He collapses to the ground with a scream that would let anyone who heard it know he has a way worse backstory than them and we are treated to 1-2 paragraphs describing his indescribable pain and anguish until he passes out in the fetal position. This happens numerous times throughout the series.
The big secret was the power of love. I’m not kidding, that is actually verbatim the entire point of the series.
It’s a decent piece of mixed dystopian/sci-fi literature. But nothing here is particularly earth-shattering. Twists are relatively predictable, he tries very hard to make you think the big bad is “Evil” so there’s stuff that’s unnecessary but just to show how mean he is. I won’t be recommending it to people but I would not recommend against reading it. A good read for not having to think too hard and get carried away with war porn.
Could have used a better editor, quite a few malapropisms and other minor errors.
The plot falls apart toward the end, and some of the supposedly invincible things had very obvious solutions that were only stumbled upon last minute, somehow missed for thousands of years.
Im changing things to not give spoilers but here’s a typical scene from the book:
our ayran soldier man hero defeats an entire enemy base himself, shot numerous times with wounds that we are told repeatedly would stop a normal man. But our hero is driven by his rage which is like a dragon, and his anger at his sad backstory drive him on. Finally he remembers who he is and wonders if he’s losing his humanity by being so badass all the time. Then he sees a cat gracefully walking through rubble…. She used to walk gracefully. He collapses to the ground with a scream that would let anyone who heard it know he has a way worse backstory than them and we are treated to 1-2 paragraphs describing his indescribable pain and anguish until he passes out in the fetal position. This happens numerous times throughout the series.
September 21, 2019
Wow
Just wow. For the good:
This was a very intense and interesting story. Had a hard time putting it down. I was really invested in everything Oryan had to go through. He was pretty awesome. The characters were fleshed out really well. And you really felt like you were there a lot of the time. Which leads me to the bad:
These books need a good editing. There were also times when the books got pretty confusing. Hard to keep track of the people, even when you knew what was going on. So many names for one person was made so much more confusing by calling them by first names, then changing to last names. Happened so often wasn’t sure I was ever going to get it straight. Understandably, this was a violent story. The violence was much too graphic for my liking though.
Overall, I really enjoyed this series and hope to see more from this author.
Just wow. For the good:
This was a very intense and interesting story. Had a hard time putting it down. I was really invested in everything Oryan had to go through. He was pretty awesome. The characters were fleshed out really well. And you really felt like you were there a lot of the time. Which leads me to the bad:
These books need a good editing. There were also times when the books got pretty confusing. Hard to keep track of the people, even when you knew what was going on. So many names for one person was made so much more confusing by calling them by first names, then changing to last names. Happened so often wasn’t sure I was ever going to get it straight. Understandably, this was a violent story. The violence was much too graphic for my liking though.
Overall, I really enjoyed this series and hope to see more from this author.
April 29, 2022
I met the author at a comic con and he was polite, professional, and very excited to present his novel. I found his energy infectious and immediately bought the book on Audible. I got home that night and started the book. It wasn't what I expected. The narration was awful and it made listening to the story a slog. Getting beyond the poor narration was very difficult.
Aside from the narration, it felt like about 90% of the novel was exposition. I would have enjoyed it much more if things were presented organically. Every chapter seemed to begin with a tedious exposition about the character, their motivations and obstacles.
I really wanted to enjoy this book. I feel like Mr. Odom has tremendous potential and imagination. I just found too many problems in this particular book. I will give some of his other works a try.
Aside from the narration, it felt like about 90% of the novel was exposition. I would have enjoyed it much more if things were presented organically. Every chapter seemed to begin with a tedious exposition about the character, their motivations and obstacles.
I really wanted to enjoy this book. I feel like Mr. Odom has tremendous potential and imagination. I just found too many problems in this particular book. I will give some of his other works a try.
May 8, 2019
Utterly engrossing and expansive
There's not a lot I can say without adding spoilers to the mix. Chad's done an excellent job of character development in both the antagonist and protagonist positions that both capture your attention. Supporting characters also have a depth to them that fully flushes out the storyline.
Chad, thanks for sharing your story and it's journey...I thoroughly enjoyed it.
There's not a lot I can say without adding spoilers to the mix. Chad's done an excellent job of character development in both the antagonist and protagonist positions that both capture your attention. Supporting characters also have a depth to them that fully flushes out the storyline.
Chad, thanks for sharing your story and it's journey...I thoroughly enjoyed it.
January 8, 2020
Starts off good, then not so much
It starts off good, then it's just plot holes, followed by supposed smart characters making dumb decisions. Like the MC supposedly loving a girl more than anything then going half a decade and not even checking up on her? And he is some military genius that basically acts like a kid hopping in random vans for candy? He is a billionaire with unlimited resources but can't make phone calls or take a visit to check on people.....
It starts off good, then it's just plot holes, followed by supposed smart characters making dumb decisions. Like the MC supposedly loving a girl more than anything then going half a decade and not even checking up on her? And he is some military genius that basically acts like a kid hopping in random vans for candy? He is a billionaire with unlimited resources but can't make phone calls or take a visit to check on people.....
December 4, 2020
Impressive series
All you need to know is I finished this book in about a week, and didn’t read any of it for several day because of work. Well thought out deep story, riveting till the end. One of those kind of books that you find hard to put down and lose some sleep over because you want to see what is going to happen next. Very well written, and I look forward to reading more books from this author.
All you need to know is I finished this book in about a week, and didn’t read any of it for several day because of work. Well thought out deep story, riveting till the end. One of those kind of books that you find hard to put down and lose some sleep over because you want to see what is going to happen next. Very well written, and I look forward to reading more books from this author.
October 12, 2022
A very good story
A very good story that actually makes you feel the emotions. There were a number of things to jerk you out of the story at times, wrong words, missing words, military things that created cognitive dissonance for someone who spent time in the military, but even with those issues, the story was good enough to overlook them. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes alternate universe stories.
A very good story that actually makes you feel the emotions. There were a number of things to jerk you out of the story at times, wrong words, missing words, military things that created cognitive dissonance for someone who spent time in the military, but even with those issues, the story was good enough to overlook them. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes alternate universe stories.
August 7, 2019
Great book by a good author
I started this book not expecting much from just the description, I was captivated and drawn into the storyline and the characters very quickly. Soon I was unable to put the book down for very long and just had to finish the book. Evolving storyline and transformations of the character's held me in thrall.
I started this book not expecting much from just the description, I was captivated and drawn into the storyline and the characters very quickly. Soon I was unable to put the book down for very long and just had to finish the book. Evolving storyline and transformations of the character's held me in thrall.
November 4, 2021
Surprising
This is not my normal genre, but I was in the mood for something different. I am lucky than this series is what caught my attention. The characters are well drawn with understandable motivations and logical actions. The plot seemed like it would be predictable, but there plenty of twists. Highly recommend!
This is not my normal genre, but I was in the mood for something different. I am lucky than this series is what caught my attention. The characters are well drawn with understandable motivations and logical actions. The plot seemed like it would be predictable, but there plenty of twists. Highly recommend!
November 21, 2021
Cool series
I thought this series was pretty cool! Wasn’t perfect but was an interesting blend with aliens, advanced tech, going back to primitive tech but still influencing civilization. Some good action and characters. The way the hero’s kid risked himself at the end was fairly dumb but … brave. I enjoyed it and I read it over a weekend of camping.
I thought this series was pretty cool! Wasn’t perfect but was an interesting blend with aliens, advanced tech, going back to primitive tech but still influencing civilization. Some good action and characters. The way the hero’s kid risked himself at the end was fairly dumb but … brave. I enjoyed it and I read it over a weekend of camping.
March 15, 2019
Lasr Archide series a very good read.
Good character development, nicely moving plot line and I liked the ending. (Spoiler alert) Sometimes the hero is not really appreciated by everyone as much as he is needed.
Good character development, nicely moving plot line and I liked the ending. (Spoiler alert) Sometimes the hero is not really appreciated by everyone as much as he is needed.
October 3, 2020
I wasn't too sure as I started the series, but by the end of the first book I enjoyed it enough to read them all. Editing was good until the last two books, where typos and incorrect words started popping up.
October 21, 2021
Wow
Curious how the story would unfold. Some secrets revealed and some not. Characters came and characters went. Plot twist after plot twist a couple that surprised me. The end was a bit of a surprise and in a way it wasn't.
Curious how the story would unfold. Some secrets revealed and some not. Characters came and characters went. Plot twist after plot twist a couple that surprised me. The end was a bit of a surprise and in a way it wasn't.
November 5, 2019
Not the book for my current mood. Maybe I will try again later.
November 12, 2019
Didn't grab my interest
December 1, 2019
Good read.
Great book. Good storyline. Strong characters. Great adventure. loved every minute of this story. Ready for the next adventure. yeah.
Great book. Good storyline. Strong characters. Great adventure. loved every minute of this story. Ready for the next adventure. yeah.
May 9, 2020
Was a good read, disappointed in the ending
November 12, 2020
Great series
Great series. I really enjoyed it. Will probably read it again. Highly recommended! Cannot wait to read your next adventure.
Great series. I really enjoyed it. Will probably read it again. Highly recommended! Cannot wait to read your next adventure.
November 16, 2020
Awesome
Great series loved the books and fitting end great read and def recommend pick it up for sure oh yeah
Great series loved the books and fitting end great read and def recommend pick it up for sure oh yeah
December 29, 2024
Enjoyable Read
Great series! 5 stars. Will definitely check out more work by this author. Interesting skills for the villain , with unexpected ending.
Great series! 5 stars. Will definitely check out more work by this author. Interesting skills for the villain , with unexpected ending.
November 13, 2019
Outstanding
Captivating, I was so entranced by the characters and the formidable will of Oryan...I could not put this book down
Captivating, I was so entranced by the characters and the formidable will of Oryan...I could not put this book down
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews