Description

Gertrude had been retired for years when she decided to move out of her home and into a retirement home of her choosing. What she hadn’t expected was that she would never make it there. Did she die? No. She was rescued against her will by a powerful being calling himself the Spirit of Isekai. Isekai, for short. Gertrude finds him a rude, immature brat, but it is already too late to turn back.

And so Gertrude starts her new life in the same aged body as always, with a lot less pain, and a bit more energy. With no goals or ambitions, she settles once again into the life of a grandmother of some children who appear to be beings of the forest. But all is not as it seems, for Gertrude can only see pleasant things.

This is an entry for the Goblins and Grandmas contest, and is intended to be on the shorter side.

Community Reviews(1)

EshmatarelRoyal Road

★★★★ 4.0

This short story is definitely worth a read for anyone with 20 minutes to spare! Very to the point with not a lot of conflict, this makes it a perfect refreshing read to get a smile out of.
In depth time:
Style: The writing flows well, the PoVs are mostly coherent and consistent. There are more scenery descriptions than character descriptions, but overall not a lot of visual cues (especially with the human side locations and people).
This isn’t so much a hindrance, as there are descriptions of the most plot relevant point,
The dome of pleasantness around Gertrude
With that in mind, I definitely prefer this over an overly adjective heavy “flowery” style of writing…
Story: Short, sweet, to the point. Not much conflict, and what little there is is resolved without issue. This is to be expected out of a comedic short story. Indeed, I’m not saying this is a bad thing, just a fact of the story.
The premise itself is as simple as it is fun. I can see this easily extend into a gag-anime style slice of life, elements in the story already falling in line with this:
What happens when a human overhears goblins coveting sugar?
or
Gertrude’s pies are actually magic?
The potential for more is definitely there. What happens when more ‘maligned’ races move to the dark forest, or magic researchers try to move in to examine everything, etc. etc.
Although I say that, I’m happy the story ended where it did! It feels like the author knew exactly what they wanted, and did it well.
Character: None of the characters felt really fleshed out, but then again, none of them really got a chance to be, with the length of the story being what it is. I think there should have been more individuals amongst the goblins, as it is, none of them have character traits that stand out from any of the others.
Grammar: ffs the grammar is fine I dislike this category of reviews.