Kate Orman, credited on her own, but working with her husband Jon Blum, dives into the world of Ursula K LeGuinn for her latest offering for the 8DA line.

On an island on the planet Hitchemus a community of music is taken over by the local population of Tigers. At first the Doctor tries to help the native human population, but when they won't listen to reason, he joins the tigers...

Well, this novel is more LeGuinn meets Malcolm Hulke, as Orman comes up with her take on the classic 3rd Doc tale Dr Who and the Silurians. The Tigers and the humans are fearful and distrustful of each other and as the tension and the violence escalates, the Doctor is forced to use drastic measures to get his point across.

Lets get this out of the way: there's no Orman PC politics, no companion shagging, no "torture the Doc" scene, no Sam to spout out her views. I had a vision of Justin Richards standing over her shoulder and telling her, "you're going to write a proper novel without all your normal horrid qualities."

Forced into the new world of Richards, Orman has created her best DW effort by far, although I am not thoroughly pleased.

My biggest beef is her characterisation of the Doctor. Since she couldn't use the Congenial Idiot version she created, she transforms him into a spoiled brat. There are also hints of the PC hippie in the character. This version grated on me for the longest time.

She manages to get Fitz right, which considering what she did to the character in Unnatural History was a bit of a surprise. Nice touches with him trying to be a substitute Doctor and bringing back his love of music.

Anji was done well, even if as just a variation of the "don't trust the Doc" character. Thankfully, she didn't turn Anji into another Sloganeering Sam type.

The main human characters were okay, with Karl the only one given anything more than just a job. The tigers were well done, especially Longbody, who is the Young Silurian equalivent in YOTI.

The plot meanders a bit, and there are two interludes written by Blum - both used to explain the Doctor's song quest and jar with the rest of the novel. The four chapters in one section, designed to show the same series of events from the views of the Doc, Fitz, Anji and Karl was well done.

There were a few of the classic annoying Orman touches - "these shoes fit appallingly" being the worst - that had me swear out loud. But it came as no surprise; even Justin Richards couldn't have eliminated all of them.

In the end, The Year of Intelligent Tigers is recommended, but not highly.