Stinz: Charger by Donna Barr

            When I initially picked up Stinz: Charger, I was completely in the dark about what to expect; what I wound up stumbling into was a story about an isolated community of centaur people living alongside humans, and one of their sons who inadvertently signed up for the draft.  What follows is an interesting study in fantastic racism and character development.  The protagonist, Steinheld Lowhard – a.k.a. Stinz – starts off the story as a bit of a naïve greenhorn as he ventures outside of his centaur community for the first time (and apparently the first among his people to become a part of the military); from there, it gets comically worse for a time as both he and the military adopt to one another (For instance, Stinz has a very particular diet due to having a horse’s stomach, and can’t wear pants or boots due to…well, his lower-half being a horse; the military personnel he has to deal with don’t know what to make of Stinz’s particular quandaries).  Despite initial problems, however, eight years of military service and one war later, he comes home a hero with the rank of Major (unfortunately, however, I didn’t get a chance to read that far).

            Barr creates an interesting world reminiscent of pre-WWI era Germany, and the decision to include un-translated, particular slang terms made the experience reminiscent of reading through some Japanese manga (due to some translator’s tendencies to keep particular Japanese terms intact).  Sometimes it made the flow a little difficult, especially when dealing with the somewhat difficult-to-read font (I believe it’s hand-lettered, but am not 100% sure), but it certainly added to the atmosphere.

Okay, so it's fan-art by Rufftoon, but it was too cute to pass up.  Stinz has a very distinctive character design and a surprisingly memorable personality.  I'll be having a read through the entirety of the series when I have the time.