Easy breezy read, weirdly enough, given this one is set in WW2. The TARDIS once again refuses to leave Earth and drops the team in the middle of the Herbstnebel, the Battle of the Bulge, a real WW2 offensive in the Ardennes. BUT! There's also fairies.

I don't have much to say about this story. The bits with the real life soldiers, their conversations with Fitz, Sam and specially the Doctor were the highlights for me. But the sci-fi part of it all with the Sidhe was just so boring. These sci-fi elves/fairies exist on Earth, but on other dimensions, meaning they don't actually interfere with humans unless they wish to. However, a dimensional rift (what caused this rift, actually?) between dimensions allows the war to affect their realm as well, so they want it closed. Well, the queen, Titania (ha) wants it closed, but Oberon (haha), her counterpart, is making things worse by working with the Americans, who are kinda working with the Germans, planning to... somehow use the Sidhe's power to phase between time and space like they do. It's not a plan that holds under scrutiny, but okay.

Sam, once again, doesn't get to do much herself, and mostly just has things happen to her. She right out gets shot in the heart and dies. She's brought back by the Sidhe so they can gain the Doctor's favor. She's quite shaken, understandably. This is what, her 3rd death, as she also dies in Beltempest and Janus Conjunction (from the top of my head). In the end, she finally, finally realizes enough is enough, and tells the Doctor that next time they land on 90/2000's Earth, she's leaving. After solving the dark haired Sam plotline, there really isn't much more that could be done with her character, so it makes sense for her to leave. I say there's not much that could be done because Sam just doesn't have an interesting enough character or dynamic with the Doctor and Fitz to justify keeping her around for much longer. What could be done has been done. She was there for the Doctor when he needed her after 'Seeing I', when it would have made sense for her to stay on Ha'olam. But he's better now and he has Fitz, even though it's not the same. She has to get under his wing to become herself, at this point. Unless there's a big overhaul in her character, she's done her bit as a companion. Her proper farewell is still to come, but this is the beginning of the end.

Fitz was delightful as always. Giving 'James Bond' as his name for the American soldiers was the Fitz-est thing he could have done. Loved that little bit where the Doctor just breaks down laughing at it. There were two points that I wish had been explored more: Fitz's feelings as he, the son of a German and born during the war, has to pretend to be a Nazi officer, and seeing the Beast again, which will lead to his mother's death in '63. Oh, well.

A side rambling about our companions, since Sam's leaving soon. Sam's not very highly regarded as a companion by the fans, from what I found, while Fitz is very well liked, to the point where I don't think I've ever heard anything bad said about his character. Fans constantly call him a loser, but that's always said with a lot of affection. Fitz is Sam's polar opposite in terms of character, and also in terms of how the narrative (usually!) treats them. The comparison in inevitable. In this book, for instance: Sam is saved by the Americans, is being taken to safety, but then they are intercepted and she's killed. Fitz, on the other hand, has to disguise himself and infiltrate the Nazi troops, and escapes on a stolen motorbike after releasing their Sidhe prisoner. See what I mean? Sam loves to think that she's unaffected and in control, and that she understands everything that's going on. She's a character that notices things, a character the other characters talk to and explain things to. However, she's not nosy enough to be much of a detective, and tends to take a more passive position. She learns all she can and reports back to the Doctor, acts as a liaison to the aliens. Fitz is more open about being scared, but he can think very fast and can come up with insanely dangerous plans that nevertheless are good plans. Is he internally going 'shitshitshitohgod' the whole time? Yes. But that makes him so endearing and entertaining and real. Very different characters, very different approach. I'm excited to see where they go for the next companion.

Back to the story. The whole third act was a big mess to me. Needing 200 tons of metal to seal the rift felt incredibly arbitrary. I get that Oberon's whole thing was not having a proper motivation, but damn, the guy really doesn't have a proper motivation besides being a bit jealous of the Doctor. That makes the ending feel quite flat. The side characters were nice, but nothing to write home about. The scene where the Doctor and the boys steal a tank was cool, but I gotta echo Fitz: bit dark for you, eh, Doctor? I guess the WW2 backdrop made him accept the necessity of death more readily than usual. And to be fair, they were killing literal Nazis.

Should I add the electrocution to the List? He recovers pretty fast... after screaming a lot... Fine, it's on the list.

Memory Loss:1 (in 'The Eight Doctors')
Serious Injuries/Near Death Experience:9 (gets vampired 'Vampire Science', nearly drowns in the Thames in 'The Bodysnatchers', bomb+fingers broken in 'Kursaal', electrocuted in 'Longest Day', gets shot + severe blood loss in 'Legacy of the Daleks', nearly squashed by giant hydra in 'The Scarlet Empress', leg broken + slapped around by giant tentacled monster in 'The Face-Eater', stabbed 3 times in 'Unnatural History', electrocuted in this one)
Torture:3 (in 'Genocide', 'Seeing I', 'Unnatural History')

Final thought: did that fairy enchant and shag him!???? Or did she just enchant and snog him? I need to know for this police report I'm filing.