The third story is my least favourite. Strangers in the Outland, by Paul Finch, sees the Autons arrive on Trenzalore. I found this story, short as it is, a bit of a slog to get through. The Autons could have been any sort of automaton as they crash around trying to kill the Doctor and the residents of Christmas, of which there are many featured more prominently in this story than in the previous two, are all pretty non-descript. This is true of the Christmasites throughout the book, to be honest. Because of the passage of time, the ‘companions’ the Doctor is given in each story change. Very little time is available to flesh them out in any significant way and as such they fade into the background as soon as you start reading the next story. This may, partly, be the point, in that the Doctor often has trouble remembering the names of some characters (often referring to young boys as Barnable, the boy seen in The Time of the Doctor). But on the other hand, he also makes a point of mentioning how he remembers how various character’s fathers, mothers, ancestors etc aided him in previous battles. One nice aspect of Strangers in the Outland, is the land-ship they use to get to the Outland, skiing across the ice. It’s a shame the rest of the story is a bit uninspiring.