Realms Unreel
Realms Unreel is the midquel and Book Four of the award-winning epic fantasy series The Artifex and the Muse by Audrey Auden. The book is currently available on Amazon.
About Realms Unreel
A stunning fusion of mythology, science fiction, and fantasy that will captivate readers who crave imaginative world-building and thought-provoking storytelling
For centuries, Dom Artifex has carried the weight of an impossible promise—to find Ava again, across lifetimes, across realities. In one world, he is a master craftsman, carving temples in a land where fate is law and men are denied knowledge. In another, he is a wanderer in a city of glass towers and digital ghosts, haunted by a woman he barely remembers. And in every world, the Voice in All whispers, shaping destinies unseen.
On a distant Earth, young Emmie Bridges—brilliant, reckless, and drawn to the mysteries of the alternet—stumbles upon fragments of a story that should not exist. As she pieces together a hidden past, her search pulls her toward an ancient struggle, one that threatens to unravel the very fabric of reality.
Realms Unreel, midquel and Book Four of the award-winning series The Artifex and the Muse, weaves a spellbinding tale of reincarnation, memory, and the battle for free will. As Dom and Emmie chase the echoes of Ava’s existence through time and technology, they must answer the question that has shaped their fates for millennia: Are we bound by the past, or can we choose to forge a new future?
Perfect for fans of Cloud Atlas and The Ten Thousand Doors of January, this thought-provoking speculative epic blends myth, multiverse theory, and timeless love into an unforgettable journey.
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
Praise for The Voice in All (Book 1 of the series)
First Place Winner for New Adult Fiction — 2024 IndieReader Discover Awards
Top 10 Book for Young Adult Fiction — 2023 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Awards
First Place Winner for Visionary Fiction — Speak Up Talk Radio 2022 Firebird Book Awards
Gold Tier — The Review Curmudgeon Best of 2022 List
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
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:
Book One: The Voice in All
Book Two: The Path of Mysteries
Book Three: The Many Worlds
Midquel / Book 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 Book One before Book Two, and Book Two before Book 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 Book Three helps explain the motivations of the older Dom Artifex who appears in the opening chapter of Realms Unreel.
However, if you choose instead to read Realms Unreel as a prequel to Book 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 Books 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!