'The Darkness at Bay' tells the story of Azria, who is some kind of unnamed creature: a human with wings and the powers of darkness. Even Azria herself isn't sure of what she is; all she knows is that she's forced to work as king Edrid's aviary (basically, as a secret weapon/soldier with the power of flight. And darkness, that too.) Azria is eager to know more about what exactly she is. Sadly, discovering that might prove to be difficult, with a war threatening to break out and everything.

The plot reminds me of other fantasy stories I've read before and makes use of some common tropes, but the story does give them a twist of its own. Not the most outstanding, original plot I've experienced, but definitely not the worst one either.

Same for the characters. I've seen better and I've seen worse. I feel like they could be developed some more, and to be honest, I wasn't really fond of Azria. It feels like all the 'flaws' she's been given are designed to make her look cool, same for her powers. Though she's weakened now (I won't spoil), I think she's a character who could tread Mary Sue territory if the author doesn't watch out.

Aside from the occasional punctuation error, there's nothing to complain about in terms of GPS.

What I did like a lot about this story was the world-building. The world, the countries of Izmera and Raheim and the other elements of it, are well-developed and intrigued me. It's a world I'd like to see more of and I hope it'll remain interesting as it appears now.

Rating: 8! Average fantasy plot and characters, but makes up for it with good GPS and excellent world-building.