The Cardsmith: Book 1 [Irwin's Journey]

by John Carrarn

The young, sickly Irwin has seen nothing but bad luck in his short life. When his brother finally returns with a magical card for him, his luck is about to change. But will it change for the better? Irwin is sent off together with a group of youths to placate a group of sorcerers. With just the weird utility card gifted by his brother, he can only pray to stay alive long enough.

Little does he know that this is the start of an epic journey that will take him across his world and many others, gathering friends, enemies, and power as he does.

Genres: Fantasy, Litrpg, Audiobook

488 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 2, 2026

About the author

J. Carrarn is a forty-year-old husband, and father of one who lives in the Netherlands. Most of the day, he sits behind a computer, solving software problems. For over thirty years, he has been spending his free time reading whatever fantasy and sci-fi he could get his hands on, from Tolkien to Dan Simons’ Hyperion. If he wasn’t reading, he was playing fantasy and sci-fi games.

Nowadays, the time he doesn’t read or write books, he spends with his wife and son, hits the gym, or cooks Italian food.

Social media:
https://www.patreon.com/carrarn
https://www.facebook.com/john.carrarn
https://twitter.com/carrarn_writes

Reviews

[Sabs ✨️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 🌟 Good fun and interesting card magic

[Johnny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is being written over on Royal Road and is in my favorites list. I figured since the author was nice enough to let us read it for free as he wrote it. I could do him a solid and post a little review here for him. If you like deck building stories with a bit of a twist and a premise where he basically builds his own cards check out this series.

[Steve Naylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 4.0 stars

Pretty good. Story follows Irwin, a 15 year old boy who has the body of a 12 year old. He is one of the weakest in his village. He is having a good day though, his brother is coming home and he might end up with a card that will make him stronger. He does get a card but it isn't the one he is hoping for. It is a utility card and it will produce a simple flame. He is really disappointed but his family talks him into using it. Turns out the card is more than it appears and he will need it. Turns out him and 19 other children from the town are being sent to the sorcerer's tower to help closing portals. The world is in trouble, more and more portals are opening allowing demons into their world and they need to be closed.

The problem is that only the people with the same rank card can go into that same portal. Common, uncommon, rare, very rare, epic, legendary are the card ranks. So, only common carded people can go into common portals.

This is the part that is a little iffy for me. Irwin knows a lot of people that don't have ANY cards, so why are they only taking children? Wouldn't it be better to take adults with no cards and give them a card? They would have to do better than children, right? Then the training is insane. Nobody wants to go to the sorcerers because they only give you a couple of months training before they put you in a portal as opposed to the rangers who get almost a year. Irwin and his new group don't even get that. On his first day, he is thrown into a practice portal without any training. It also doesn't help that he is sickly and weaker than anyone else there. How is this a good idea to put HIM into a portal to close it. There should be zero chance he survives.

That is when his card comes into play. Turns out it is a special card, his flame can kill most of the imps with a simple touch. He ends up being able to close the practice portal, something nobody has ever done, and he gets a flying sentient anvil in the bargain. This anvil named Ambrose knows more about portals, cards and the world than anyone else Irwin has ever met. Turns out the world is in worse shape than Irwin thought. Ambrose wants Irwin to become a cardsmith, something Irwin has never heard of. This would allow Irwin to alter cards to increase their level. He just needs to stay alive first. Overall, a good start to the series.

[Paul Clemons · Rating 3 out of 5]

fake injuries

Good plot and characters and an interesting story that I’m curious to watch how it will develop. The mc’s exhaustion, injuries, and weakness was as believable as a soccer player’s injury. The author would have made it more believable had they just gone out and jogged till they couldn’t and then wrote that down. A one to two mile walk to a village took the mc, who open the book running mind you, over two hours to walk to? An average human could hop on one leg the entire distance and make it there faster. Get outside, time yourself, live a little. Also there were inconsistencies that went unexplained that brought the value down. Do cards merge? Because big D had club card, added R’s shield card, added the mace card to get to max three cards in a hand and somehow added an armor card to the same hand? Also society would have collapsed and stopped functioning long ago. Oh, and the lie about the anvil being a card made sense to nobody.

[Kris · Rating 3 out of 5]

No Actual Card Smithing?

I loved the idea and setup of this book, but I was barely able to finish. The world doesn’t really make sense and rules are often inconsistent. Concepts are sometimes introduced and then abandoned by the author. Worst of all is the crafting system, which is supposed to be the main draw. It is boring and almost nonexistent.

The main character is okay. He starts out poor and downtrodden but begins rising to the top. He is way too passive though. Things just kind of happen to him. And his friends are even more inconsistent than the world rules.

[Sundeep · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book started with a worsening situation where an increasing number of portals upended an already bleak situation. It was darker than I was comfortable with, but the magic system and a potential game changing card for our hero kept me interested. The cast of characters was well done and I'm looking forward to how the immensely huge setting would play out.

[Aubrey Maynard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book

Interesting world building and character development throughout the book. I was getting some YA dystopian vibes at certain points but the story feels original and different from other books that I have read in the past. I look forward to reading the next book.

[Jarred · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written okay, story has a clear objective, immediate goals that are a necessity in that transient spatial fixture are achievable, and have been achieved at the end of the last chapter.
But I don't know why this story is a slog to finish. Like it should've ended 100-200 pages ago.
Nevertheless, a good start 4/5

[Ciaran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing Sprawling Story

One of the most interesting and engaging stories in progression fantasy. I enjoy how engaging the characters are and how they change as the story shapes them.

[Jim Phillips · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little dark

Tried and true premise but this just turned a little dark for me. I never really found a sense of hope. Craft was good. Scenes flowed and the characters seemed well thought out. No matter how much I disliked them.