On an alien world where yellow and blue are unheard of colors, where a tentative truce between science and religion has been worked out, a young man is rescued from poverty by an unknown benefactor. But, on his way to his first day of work for the Printers Guild, he is denounced by a condemned witch. His crime? He is to be the Revenant, the man who will return from the dead to overthrow the old order.

For those who have never read Charles Harness, this is not the place to start. Start with his classic _The Paradox Men_, his tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, _Lurid Dreams_, or the collection _An Ornament to His Profession_. The newcomer may just see another alien society trying to develop science and frustrated by reactionary forces. And the plot has some vaguely glossed over points and scientific absurdities.

But, as Harness admits in his opening notes, there is much that he shares with his hero: a beloved older brother who died tragically young, early training for the ministry, chemical studies, and jobs with the police in a red light district of town. And Harness, as usual, works in references to art, here the music of J. S. Bach and Richard Wagner.

And there is the discovery of women. This coming of age novel has a lot of sex passages, most effectively done -- especially for Harness, an author not known for his erotic work. And the sex is actually crucial to the plot. ( )