Nimue: Freeing Merlin

by Ayn Cates Sullivan, Belle Crow duCray (Illustrator)

To discover what is true about ourselves, we often have to take a quest and undergo initiations that test us to the core. In this Celtic Heroine’s journey, a young modern-day woman, through a series of mystical events, realizes that she was a Lady of the Lake in a previous life. Believing she is a normal person just like any other, Nina has no idea of the mysteries that await her in Britain. She was, as it turns out, 5th century Nimue, the one responsible for sealing Merlin up in a tree until the hour of his return. Now, she is the only one who can find him, and the world depends on it. Traveling back in time to Ynys Witrin, the Isle of Glass, she discovers more than she ever imagined possible. Freeing Merlin is a stand-alone novel, and also part of the Legends of the Grail series. The books do not need to be read in order, but all of the legends and folktales interrelate. The earlier books in the series focus on Celtic Goddesses and Heroines. Like the other books in the series, there are Celtic rituals, mystical practices and visualizations for the avid reader who wishes to delve more deeply into Celtic and Arthurian mysteries.

Genres: Fantasy

278 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 7, 2021

About the author

Ayn Cates Sullivan, MA, MFA, Ph.D. is an award winning and best selling author. She holds a master’s degree in spiritual psychology from USM, and a masters and doctorate in literature from Columbia University and King’s College London. She currently lives with her husband, two children and variety of horses and pets on a ranch in Santa Ynez, California. Her educational experiences coupled by life lead her into the study and practice of what makes one whole.

Ayn’s many visionary fiction books for children of all ages include Tracking The Deer, Consider This, The Windhorse Poems Of Illumination, Three Days in the Light and an award winning children’s series including: Sparkle & The Gift, Sparkle & The Light, Sparkle & The Rainbow Dragon (2017) and A Story Of Becoming. Her collection of Celtic Mythology, Legends of the Grail, will be available in early 2017.

Reviews

[Bell · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. With the roots in Arthurian legend, I thought for sure I would like it. Sadly, both the characters and writing lacked sophistication and depth. This felt like a series of facts covered loosely by a confusing plot. The writing was so one dimensional and felt more like a girl writing a journal then an attempt to portray a progression of a plot. Also what 17 year old in the 21st century calls their mom "mother". All in all, I can tell the author is knowledgable in history and mythology, but the characters, plot, and dialogue were really lacking.

[Jenn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Absolutely terrible. DNF at 8%. The writing style is pretentious and annoying and the main character, who is supposed to be 17 and modern, sounds like she thinks she's in an Austen novel.

[Gaby Vega · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are a lot of things this book did decently. But there are more things that were not a hit with me. The characters were extremely one-dimensional.

The best part of the whole work was the storytelling. There was great use of seemingly well researched terms for the late medieval age of King Arthur, but it was bordering on overuse of the proper nouns that had little to no explanation until someone asks a question with stilted dialogue or it’s explained in one sentence.

It was less a story about a girl coming of age(?) and more just the author talking rituals and magic that were brought up once and then never again. Author uses a series of sentences to explain events that shouldn’t be explained so quickly and then over explains events that don’t matter or were never brought up again. One example that stuck out to me were Ganiade and her bottles. She gives Nina not one but two bottles of special magic fairy liquid and the next chapter completely jumps to the next day. This was supposed to be some groundbreaking event where Nina starts to realize who she was in her past live(s), but all we got was one chapter where she’s sort of interrogated, and another chapter where Nina visits, cries when she’s told who or what she is, then gets magic bottles and soup, and leaves. It felt like fluff and the significance of it was lost because right after she just wakes up the next day!

The dialogue was weird and stilted. If someone read these aloud, it wouldn’t sound anything like a natural conversation. My biggest pet peeve was Nina calling her mom “Mother” instead of mom. It was hard to be drawn in when the first chapter specifically says it takes place in the twenty first century and we got Nina trying really hard to be a manic pixie dream girl and a girl who “summers” in the Hamptons at the same time. Dialogue was also abrupt a lot of of the time - the piss poor lore dumping in the beginning with Ganiade and then with Morgen was rough to sit through. And because it seemed there was difficulty writing dialogue between people who’ve known each other since one of them was born, the author usually thought it best to just skip dialogue altogether. Instances were “mother” was too upset or nervous or tired to speak so they sit in companionable silence. Except they were always in companionable silence. The few moments that Nina and her mom spoke was in passing, or when they first arrive to England and the mom kept saying things like “You’ll be able to get a public transport pass known as an Oyster Card.” Like she’s some kind of tour guide. There were also moments where things were mentioned like Daphne telling them to go up and have a cup of tea and no one ever had any tea until like the next day.
This sentence: “He seemed to gaze into my soul, and then he
smiled. I felt heat run through my body, and then we both dropped the gaze.” *((Chapter 13)

The prose in this published book overall felt like the equivalent of being given a piece of charcoal when I paid for a diamond. While I don’t expect every book to be perfect (especially debut books), I can expect a modicum of proofreading. There were two instances where “koi pond” was written as “coy pond” and I knew it was meant to be “koi pond” because a white and orange “coy” was swimming around in one. Topics were switched so quickly in a single paragraph I got whiplash. Descriptions were made only by answering the questions of what is seen, smelled, and heard and each answer is one sentence. Author has a bad case of tell don’t ever show and it made reading this a chore. It was too close to fanfiction and that’s not a good thing. All our information came from an all-knowing teenager and nothing was ever something new to her she always knew what some artifact was or where some event happened.

Characters were so one-dimensional they were thinner than the paper they were written on. Random characteristics were thrown at you by the author (but never any descriptions - if they described Nina/Nimue, it was the parts I skimmed because I was so over this) and then they were just never brought up. Like Nina wanting to paint Hampstead Village like she does that every day or something and then she just never picks up a pencil or a brush and never mentions colors of anything ever again. Ganieda heals cancer??? She’s just some random witch living in Hampstead and no one ever bothered to tell anyone else that their cancer is gone cause she did a little Irish jig around them or something. I feel like this could have had higher stakes. She also just has Nina’s dad on ghost speed dial and that just killed me (Chapter 6). Another way the author skips over dialogue and character development is by having another character with all the answers not want to answer any of Nina’s questions and just having them tell her she has all her answers inside her already. Nina was an insipid child with no sense of self preservation at all when faced with being potentially kidnapped and when a mysterious woman says she’s a Mage. She just accepts it like it was the most obvious solution to all her issues and then drinks tea offered to her by her kidnapper with the only assurance is that it “isn’t poisoned.”

Mysterious woman known as Morgen casually hints that she’s the three faced goddess to some nobody kid from the US. Nina also conveniently has an ancestral connection to the ladies of the lake which were never explained in detail. timeless, powerful, and immortal witch with infinite reincarnations has to color code doors to different dimensions otherwise she forgets what they lead to - sure Jan. She also hops (Chapter 11) and drinks $12 “Premium Osmanthus Oolong Tea from China.” Even the Chinese aren’t safe from the author’s proper-noun-ification.

Owen was mentioned once before she arrive in England and wasn’t brought up again until it was convenient for the plot when he suddenly is needed to find the holy Grail. They’ve supposedly been dating for two years but this is never expanded on or elaborated. It was so unnatural for a literal teenager to not put up a single fight when faced with being separated (perhaps permanently! This is never clarified because sometimes Nina made it sound like she was leaving the US forever and sometimes sounded like an adventure for the summer) from her SO of two years.

Merlin was a random white guy who shows up and kisses Morgen and she grants him power. I would explain the ritual but it was never explained int he book. World Changing Events are mentioned multiple times and never broken down - the how, or the why. Merlina was a horrible counterpart to him and screwed up by creating a double of herself after she replaces Merlin and once again just is never explained why this is such a horrible thing. The double has no malicious intent - it’s just a mindless shadow counterpart of Merlina/Nimue/Nina. But there’s a grand old show ff going to Gwyn and begging for his help, etc. then catching it and putting it back into Nina. I was so over the story at this point I skimmed it and I was not surprised to find that nothing happened at all with stakes that low.

[Germaine Irwin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m rounding up because it was different and I need to expand my horizons.

[Iva Kenaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a beautiful and unique novel. So masterfully written that it makes you feel like in a dream as you turn the pages, following the heroine on her extraordinary path of self-discovery. It is rare to find such a genuine novel that reads like the old classics. I recommend it to everyone who is interested in wise, intelligent literature as well as mystical, visionary stories that do not only feed the mind but mainly the spirit. What a wonderful book!

[Cassandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received a complimentary copy.

It is an adventure of mind and fantasy. Well described moments and lots of unique thoughts blend in to make this an interesting read.

[M.R. Neer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book! Great description of spiritual experiences.

[Kim V. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Upon completion of reading this book, Nimue: Freeing Merlin by Ayn Cates Sullivan I would give it a rating of 2/5.

This novel shows that the author is very knowledgeable of Arthurian legends and Celtic mythology. Although not my ideal literary genre I find the author did make a fair attempt to kiss the 21st century to Arthurian times. I did however find myself very confused in the beginning of the book because I am not familiar with this particular topic. While reading I kept having to jump to the glossary or use Google to look many things up that could have easily been explained within the story. I would recommend the author just take a bit more time in the beginning to explain more and write to an audience who may be unfamiliar with Arthurian legends and Celtic mythology like myself. It would make for a better explanation of events and origins of people and places.

Another thing with the novel is, the protagonist Nina, could have behaved more like a modern teenager. Some of the speech or behavior patterns of this young lady did somehow feel like she was an older person trapped inside a younger body. Like she was not of this time. Maybe that was the author's intention but I don't remember it being explained that way. I felt Nina didn't behave like a modern 17 year old, not having her phone alot of times. Roaming an unfamiliar city alone and getting into a random vehicle (assuming it was sent to her by someone else) to be taken to a place she is unfamiliar with and not put up any type of fight. Just seemed bizarre to me for a 21st century kid.

Another issue I discovered with this novel is my confusion on who the antagonist was. Initially, I thought it was the woman in the green dress or was it Nina/Nimue herself? The friend (or boyfriend)? Merlin? I also think the author could have elaborated on the boyfriend more and where he came from. It also confused me in the end how her boyfriend "saw the whole thing". It would have been better if the author explained his part more clearly or stated links between the characters that would allow the audience to know how he was actually "seeing" Nimue.

All in all I like the whole concept of the story. The idea of having a young lady from today's time and forcing her to go back in tine and remember who she truly was makes for a great story line. With some revision and including a bit more detail in the opening chapters, it would be a great YA book.

[Sara Donavan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book and the method in which it was written. It was interesting starting from the present day then reaching back in history to centuries before in order to weave the tales of the characters together. However, any readers should be aware that this is definitely not truly a time travel book in any traditional sense, but rather it is more about the stories of one family’s ancestors across two different time periods. It is first told in the present day perspective and then goes back to tell the ancestral relative’s experiences. Nor is it even truly about a damaged or fractured psyche or soul, as was indicated in the original description on the bookstore website. The spiritual and pagan teachings are not overly dramatic or overpowering to the storyline and they flow wonderfully and realistically without becoming a distraction. There is even an interesting take on Atlantis and many of the Old Gods/Goddesses across several pantheons that is included in the book. It really makes one think about Enoch and the Nephillim, for those who like to explore such topics. I was rather disappointed that the author didn’t flesh out Owen more or explain better how he could be two male characters at the same time. He is referred to as a lesser known Knight of the Round Table by Morgan, but when speaking to Nina later on Owen claims a memory of being another person who was also living at the same time as the previously mentioned Knight. There was also a slightly disconcerting jump in history where I think the writer’s plans changed. This is right before the new Merlin goes to court. I had to reread this passage, about Nimue’s aging, a few times to figure out what happened there, but aside from those instances, the rest was a fast paced and thoroughly enjoyable read. Maybe additional novels are needed to explain Owen’s adventures, not to mention Nina’s uncle and the royal family lineage she comes from. There could be some excellent adventures we have not yet heard of or read.

[Robin Ginther-Venneri · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ayn Cates Sullivan's 'Nimue: Freeing Merlin' doesn't just tell a story; it pulls you right into the heart of the mystical Arthurian legend. Picture this: you're diving deep into the intertwined fate of Nimue and Merlin, where themes of destiny and sacrifice play out amidst a dance of shadows and light. Avalon isn't just a setting; it's a magical world where magic and humanity blend together like never before.
What sets Sullivan apart is her genuine respect for Celtic lore and spirituality, weaving an authenticity into the narrative that's hard to miss. Her storytelling? Oh, it's top-notch. You'll find yourself not just reading but feeling every word.
But here's the kicker: this isn't just a story about mythical figures. It's a mirror reflecting our own journeys. Sullivan's book nudges us to ponder our paths and discover that power within us to liberate our own “Merlins” from the depths of our souls.
Trust me, 'Nimue: Freeing Merlin' isn't just a book; it's an invitation to explore the core of the human experience. I cannot recommend it enough.

[K. LaMar · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting retelling of myths from Old England

The reader starts out in today's world, following a young woman. But, at a break in the storyline, the reader is back in the time of King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table. Except, not quite there yet. First, the reader has to understand the Merlin.
If you're looking for an action-packed story, look somewhere else. But this can lead you through a voyage of self-discovery, for Nimue and for yourself. While I'm not one to do it, it was interesting to read the steps of a journey to the three grails. Maybe think about one's connection to nature. And hope that the world can be ready for the Merlin's return.

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve never loved Celtic myths better

Wow. This journey was mind blowing. I love how the author made Nimue, or Nina into a modern day American who has to reach into her subconscious to recall her past lives. An average American going back to her hometown only to learn that she imprisoned merlin and had to free him to restore balance to the world. Intense, so much education about Celtic cultures. Great read!!

[Megan James · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book itself had a good story plot and flowed well enough. Parts of the story seemed like it was missing parts that would help connect scenes together. The connection between some of the main characters didn't make sense at first, then later on, in the book, it became better. Over all good book just probably won't recommend

[Mikaela Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was extremely excited to read this book as I love mythology of all kinds. While the story was interesting, it was presented in a way that didn’t necessarily flow. The author is clearly incredibly intelligent, but the writing itself was choppy.

[Maariyah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is quite interesting.

I thought this book wasn’t too bad and actually enjoyed it . I am a fan of mythology and thought the spiritual aspects interesting.

[Sasha Austin · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF about 52% through. I really tried to like the main character but I just couldn't. I also did not enjoy the writing style and everything felt rushed.

[D'Anna Avola · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have never wanted to DNF a book more.

[Denisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Tolkien is better

This book reminds me on Herman Hesse's "Steppenwolf" written after his beloved wife left him and under the influence of heroine. The same strong phantasy of a prisoner of the psychical and deceptive world. A completely broken psyche, imagining waves of bliss, emerald self, intergalactic self, miracles of all sorts etc. A strong need for all "pain, suffering, guilt, shame, negativity etc." to be cleansed and healed but in the wrong way leading to "inner division" and the state of "a shadow", a "ghost" between the worlds, not belonging to any of them and thus losing the human existence.
I don't have this feeling while reading Tolkien's books of which I'm great admirer.

[Christa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really struggled with finishing this book, I had a hard time following once the book jumped into a mythology storyline. It couldn't hold my interest.