The first part of The Lost Years of Merlin is set in the coastal regions of Wales, known in the book by its Celtic name, Gwynedd.

Approximately the last two-thirds of the book takes place in the mythical land Fincayra, which has some tenuous connections to the human world but is not a part of it. Young Emrys's passage between the two is by sea.

Perhaps because of Fincayra's betweenworlds status, both his voyage from Fincayra as a small boy and his return some years later end with a shipwreck which leaves him stranded on the shore, unconscious.

Gwynedd is a land of forests and small villages, where ancient sacred sites and beliefs still exist in harmony with newer Christian elements. There is a city, Caer Myrddin, with a church and convent where young Emrys and his foster mother seek shelter after Emrys's emerging powers create a firestorm...