The Water Blade

The Ridnight Mysteries #1

by Stuart Jaffe

A brave warleader on a quest for a mythical weapon, Axon Coponiv is forced to look outside her trusted party for help when one of her own is mysteriously slain. She turns to Zev Asterling, a failed businessman, displaced aristocrat, and psuedo-detective, to help her find out who killed her man and why. The mystery deepens as Zev realizes that the killer must be someone close to Axon, perhaps even one of the others in her band.

Is it Pilot, the genial but deadly warrior who has served alongside Axon for many years? Henlio, the quiet but steady sword who has stood by her through battle after battle? Or the mysterious witch Bellemont, one of the mysterious Stolen, about whom little is known?

To get to the bottom of this mystery, Zev will have to use all his intelligence and guile, not only to find the killer, but also to stay alive as the party traverses the treacherous distance to Castle Ridnight and the legendary Water Blade, the only weapon that can stop the encroachment of the armies of the West and their mysterious god-leader known only as The Beast.

The Water Blade is the first in a new trilogy of fantasy mystery novels.

Genres: Fantasy, Magic, Mystery

268 pages, Paperback

First published June 10, 2021

About the author

Stuart Jaffe is the madman behind the Nathan K thrillers, Max Porter paranormal-mystery series, The Malja Chronicles, The Bluesman series, and much more. He has written numerous short stories in Fantasy, SF, and Horror. He was also the co-host of The Eclectic Review (http://eclectic.libsyn.com) -- a podcast about science, art, and well, everything.

Stuart lives in rural North Carolina, and for those who keep count, the latest animal listing is as follows: one dog, two cats, one albino corn snake, three aquatic turtles, assorted fish, seven chickens, and a horse. Thankfully, the chickens and the horse do not live inside the house.

Reviews

[Madison Warner Fairbanks · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Water Blade by Stuart Jaffe
The Ridnight Mysteries series (trilogy) #1. Epic fantasy. Alternating POV chapters for Axon and Zev.
When one of her warriors is found dead, Axon Coponiv realizes there is an enemy in her camp. She hires Zev Asterling, to help find the traitor. The warriors travel and fight to get to Castle Ridnight where Axon undergoes the trials for the legendary Water Blade.

Witches give up teeth and animal waste is sacred in these interesting battles to find a killer and eliminate the Beast.
Serious world building and imaginary. Having to work through a nightmare, Axon is far stronger than even she believes.

[Ashley Yungbluth · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Water Blade" by Stuart Jaffe is book one in "The Ridnight Mysteries" series. I enjoyed the mystery behind it of who killed someone in the group. I'm glad that Axon seeked out help from Zev to figure out who did it. Axon is the leader of her group when one of her own gets murdered. They are looking for a "mythical weapon" when this happens. Zev feels that it is someone close to Axon and in her group that did it. This is the first I have read by Stuart Jaffe, and I enjoyed it. I will also read something in another series.

[Sienna Cornwall-Brady · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely fantastic, and can not wait to read the rest of the series! The mystery, plot, and character developments were complex, and interesting to read. I was enthralled with the magic systems, and world building this book thought up, and would love to see more of its complexities throughout the series. Fantasy is my favorite book genre, and there was a hint of a possible future romance but I will have to read the rest to find out if that develops into anything more substantial. Fantastic Read, or Listen!

[Robbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This wasn't bad. I liked the mystery side of this more than the fantasy side. Both aspects, though, played out like things were edited out and I found a lot of it unbelievable. The mystery just kind of got solved eventually and the fantasy seemed to be trying to suggest a more dynamic world but didn't actually go into anything. I thought that there might be a political statement thrown in somewhere, but it never really worked out that way. Axon was a little...fascist, maybe? She was really into the monarchy and thought that any other form of government was horrific. Then there was the whole scene with her parents that never really went anywhere: everything we learned from it could have just been a paragraph or two explaining why Axon was the way she was...though it really didn't explain much. She didn't seem to have a coherent ethos beyond, "Kingdom good, king good, want to be hero!" It really didn't make that much sense to me that such a jingoistic person would put together a team made up mostly of foreigners who she didn't feel had faith in her mission. And it didn't make much sense to me that her mission was just her and her little band of misfits and not at least a company of the king's guards. And the secondary characters weren't that well drawn, honestly. With all of that, the storytelling was actually pretty good: it flowed well and stayed interesting. And the world was actually pretty interesting. I read the preview chapter of the next book and thought that I might actually enjoy it a little more than this one, but it turns out that they only sell the digital edition on Amazon and I don't do Kindle books. If it ever fell into my hands, I'd probably read it, though.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Warleader Axon Coponiv and her group are on their way to Castle Ridnight to find the legendary Water Blade. It is the only weapon that can stop the armies of the West and their mysterious leader known only as The Beast. One of her men gets killed. She asks Zev Asterling, a pseudo-detective to help find the killer. He doesn't have to fight or do anything else. He comes to the conclusion that the killer is someone in their group. Who could it be? How will he find out? Will Zev do more than what is expected of him? Does the water blade really exist?
The story flows. It is well written. Stuart will have us turning pages to find out what happens next.
I voluntarily received a copy of this book from the author and I'm voluntarily posting a review. My opinion is entirely my own.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been reading this author for years, so I will read just about anything he writes. I was excited to see this new series by him and dived in. Axon and Zev were the main characters in this book, but they were by no means the only interesting ones. I found all of them to be interesting in their own ways. Poor Zev fumbled his way through the mystery, and he paid the price for taking a while to discover the murderer. Add to that a quest for the water blade and to save the country from the beast, this was a well-written tale with an almost Knights Templar feel. I have to admit that this type of genre is not my favorite, but this author made me almost wish it were. Recommend. I was provided a complimentary copy which I voluntarily reviewed.

[Jayda]

Stuart has a really good way of creating and exploring worlds from what I've seen in the awesome Malja chronicles and in this one. It's a good start to The Ridnight Mysteries though i wish we could have seen a bit more of Axon and Henlio's relationship before his puppet replacement and a feel for the crew's relationship and chemistry with another in the past because they were a little tense and quiet during the journey in this one besides a joke here and there, which is fair because of the situation, but i wondered if they were like that all the time or did they joke more, get personal with each other, etc. However, we may get more background down the line.

[Erin Penn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantasy and a mystery, but not exceptional in either genre to drown in, still an tasty mixture to sip. The characters were more complex than the fantasy world-building and the mystery, though the foundation laid for the gods, the politics, and the magic system look promising for the rest of the series now that the initial premise has been developed in book one.

The Water Blade follows two POV characters, one a solider in search of legendary status and one is a natural detective in search of a challenge. Neither one comes from a family that understands their ambitions. Together they might change the world.

[Fraser Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

The two protagonists are Axon, leader of an adventuring band who believes in her destiny to destroy the god-demon of the Feral Lands and Zev, a rich boy turned fantasy-world detective. Someone murdered one of Axon's crew so Zev comes along to help figure it out. Can he do it before the witches kill everyone?
Kept me interested all the way through. While I don't object to the tech elements (rifles and cars) I would like more detail on them — are the Eastern lands steampunk? Early 20th century tech levels? Did they jump straight to rifles without muskets?

[ButtonsMom2003 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook Review:
Overall – 5
Performance – 5
Story – 5

Good Mystery!

Water Blade was a very compelling audiobook to listen to. While this type of fantasy story isn’t really my normal thing to read, I really enjoyed listening to it. James Anderson Foster did a fantastic job performing this story. I loved that the lead warrior, Axon, was female. The mystery kept me listening well into the wee hours of the morning.

[Ruth · Rating 2 out of 5]

10. Best of the bunch for this week. It was a nice change to see that there are stories out there which do not depend on a red haired snarky MC, a self-deprecating MC. Despite no ‘living rock “, there is a sort of prophecy so not completely innocent.

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting world creation. Non-stop action and intrigue. The story kept me reading late into the night but I keep wondering about only 32 teeth.