 Reception was mixed . Reviewer E. L. Tinker praised Ward 's visual mastery , but denigrated Ward 's repetition of plot — the protagonist 's " revolt against the injustices of society his preoccupation with sex , his self @-@ loathing after he has succumbed to the scarlet woman , and his final disillusionment " . Wood engraver John DePol considered Prelude to a Million Years his favorite of Ward 's wordless novels . 
