The Raven's Banquet opens with Richard Treadwell a prisoner of the Puritan army for supporting Charles I. As he awaits trial, he spends his time penning his memoirs of his time in Germany in 1620's where he learned the soldier's trade. But while in Germany, he was also involved in strange happenings while wandering with few companions following a losing battle. These strange encounters shaped him into the man he became. While the story is interesting and the setting is a time not often covered in fiction, this tale would make the most sense if the reader had already read Clifford Beal's Gideon's Angel first.