Realms Unreel
Realms Unreel is the midquel and Part 4 of the award-winning fantasy series The Artifex and the Muse by Audrey Auden. You can purchase Realms Unreel in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook formats.
About the book
A man bound to a mythic past. A girl chasing digital dreams. A love that defies the boundaries of reality.
In the ancient realm of Dulai, master craftsman Dom Artifex is shattered when Ava, the woman he loves, vanishes into the underground river in pursuit of an otherworldly vision. Bound by a covenant with the mysterious Voice in All, Dom begins a centuries-long quest to find her again—across timelines, across worlds, across death itself.
On a near-future Earth, Ava is reborn as Emmie Bridges, the youngest child in a family of brilliant inventors. Growing up alongside the alternet—an immersive virtual reality where memories, identities, and realities are shaped by code—Emmie dreams of building something that lasts. When she's invited to join a groundbreaking project, her future seems limitless.
But when tragedy shatters her world and Dom reaches out to help her, Emmie begins to question everything she thought was real. As their connection deepens and forgotten truths resurface, she must choose whether to accept the fate that’s followed her across lifetimes—or break the pattern forever.
A genre-bending fusion of mythology, fantasy, and near-future technology, Realms Unreel is a lyrical, mind-bending companion to the award-winning series The Artifex and the Muse.
Praise for The Voice in All (Part One of the series)
Winner, First Place – New Adult Fiction – IndieReader Discovery Awards
Top 10 Book – Young Adult Fiction – IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards
Winner, First Place – Visionary Fiction – Firebird Book Awards
Gold Tier — The Review Curmudgeon
Wow, this book was phenomenal! A five-star read, for sure! … The main characters, Dom and Ava, are insightful, utterly human, apologetic, and open to change … It was brilliant, show-stopping, and spectacular, as Lady Gaga would say; and it was by far the best book I’ve read all year.
— The N in NYA reviews The Voice in All
Recognition for The Artifex and the Muse four-part series
Winner, Third Place – Fantasy – Firebird Book Awards
Reader reviews for Realms Unreel
“Wow. This book is just awesome! ... I loved the world-building … the blending of technology and old religions was refreshingly thrilling. The author’s descriptions of technology were phenomenal.” — Heidi
“Realms Unreel is an ambitious work. Auden covers a profoundly wide range of themes from Buddhism, to internet censorship, to religious extremism, to soul mates, to Adam and Eve … with smooth storytelling and prose that make this book fun and bizarre while the plot builds up, then exciting and immersing when it begins to unravel.” — Bob
“I really enjoyed the merging of high-tech virtual reality and technology of the near-distant future, with ancient mythology and the dreamy immortal realm.” — Parthena
Bonus content for readers
As you read Realms Unreel, you may also enjoy the following:
Author’s note on the reading order for Realms Unreel
As I wrapped up the writing of The Many Worlds (Book Three), I discovered that Realms Unreel is what some call a midquel—that is, a story that takes place inside the timeframe of another story. However, due to the limitations of print formatting and ebook distribution, which require series books to appear in a linear order, I sequenced the four books in the series box set as follows:
Part One: The Voice in All
Part Two: The Path of Mysteries
Part Three: The Many Worlds
Midquel / Part Four: Realms Unreel
This suggests the books are meant to be read in this exact order, but the reality is more flexible. For what it’s worth, here are my thoughts on the reading order.
I strongly recommend reading Part One before Part Two, and Part Two before Part Three—straightforward enough. These three books have tightly interconnected plots, and reading them out of order would cause major plot spoilers.
However, Realms Unreel—as a midquel connected to and contained within the first three books in the series—may be read in a number of different ways without risk of plot spoilers.
I placed Realms Unreel fourth in the series because knowing the backstory of the young Dom Artifex from the end of Part Three helps explain the motivations of the older Dom Artifex who appears in the opening scene of Realms Unreel.
However, if you choose instead to read Realms Unreel as a prequel to Part One, you will have a greater understanding of the mysterious visions of Earth that grow progressively more intense for Ava as the first three books unfold.
Alternatively, you may read Realms Unreel anywhere in between Parts One, Two, and/or Three, if and when you want to know more about Emmie Bridges and the alternet that Ava encounters as she crosses back and forth between branches of the multiverse.
In the end, there’s no wrong answer. Whatever route you take through the books, I hope you enjoy the ride!