FanficRecs Has some good points, but not for everyone
Inheritance of Cards and Demons is a fanfic with both good and bad points. All characters are written very well with in-character reactions, and OC's are also given their own personalities without ever taking too much focus from Rin. Most chapters are self-contained as well, giving the fic an overall Slice-of-Life feel.
The main drawback to the fanfic is its extremely slow plot progression across hundreds of thousands of words, which removes potential tension the fanfic could've had. Those who are looking for a fic with an intense plot, this isn't the one for you. Also, I nearly dropped this fic when I started seeing stuff about "comment quotas" in the Author's Notes, but as it is completed that's no problem. If you personally feel that sort of thing is off-putting, just skip the Author's Notes.
FanficRecs Inheritance Of Cards And Demons
I really want to like this fic. I love the premise, the writing style isn't bad, but the issue is that nothing happens.
43 chapters and Rin's family still knows nothing, and neither does anyone else of relevance. Just when it looked like something interesting might have occurred, the plot thread is nipped in the bud (usually by a convenient memory wipe), forgotten about, or left to deal with in the apparent sequel (I hope). Thanks to the author's invention of the "Memory" card, there are no consequences to anything - the tension is non-existent, and the longer it dragged on the less I cared about the reveal.
In my impatience to get to the end of the fic (and some kind of plot that's not just CCS reskinned), I skipped a few chapters towards the end and I can honestly say that I didn't miss anything important. It feels like the author could have achieved the same thing in half the number of chapters - so many were spent on detailing how Rin captured X card but didn't contribute to the plot at all, and half the time I felt as though the characters didn't even learn anything from the adventure. They could have worked as side stories but in the fic itself it just felt like padding.
Each chapter feels like a self-contained episode - which works in a TV show like CCS, but not so much in writing. Most characters that were introduced are focused on in that particular chapter, maybe a few chapters if they're lucky, and then forgotten about or relegated to minor side character. I was excited for Naoko to be support for Rin, but after she was introduced and had her time in the spotlight, she faded into the background. A lot of the OCs often felt kinda shallow for this reason.
Add that to some other minor gripes (weeb english, "Sora" and "Riku," is not very subtle and very immersion breaking!) and I have a hard time reccing this fic despite the interesting premise and potential. Hopeful for the sequel though, if it can resolve some of the major issues I have with this fic. Mostly just the glacial pacing.
FanficRecs I am surprised that this fic even has a tvtropes page.
Previous reviews talked about how the main issue of the series mostly revolve around the glacial pacing, but I don't know why that's the only one pointed out because there are hellluva more problems with this story as a whole that makes it not only frustrating but in the end: completely unreadable. As someone who choked through the entire series twice over, I'm very confident to say that reading this is NOT WORTH IT. Don't waste your time like I did. The plot is nigh invisible (unless ported straight from either the series Cardcaptor Sakura or Blue Exorcist) and the characters that are introduced are flat enough that they'll survive getting run over by a 2 tonne vehicle. It's as if the author read wikipedia summaries of the two series and mashed it up together in the blandest way possible. With that being said - let's get down to the meat and grit of the constant and plaguing problems that really makes this just bad.
First off as stated: plot. It doesn't exist. There is no trace of originality in this entire series because the author doesn't put any other than the card of the day and whatever happened in that moment of Cardcaptor Sakura. That's for the first work (Inheritance of Cards, 43 chapters) and the second one (Inheritance of Magic, 33 chapters), which well can be aptly summarized as 76 chapters of fucking filler. It's the definition of a throwaway plot and this working as the prequels to the main storyline of Blue Exorcist hurts really ruins any sort of tension that could have been and into the pitfall of what plagued the Star Wars Prequels: bullshit plot. This is literally card of the day redone over and OVER again. And it gets frustrating. There's no variety, until we get to IOM, where a new character is introduced and now instead of the card of the day, we get uh attack of the day. Wow. What a scandalous development. The point also reiterated by previous reviews is the glacial pacing; which at this point is caused by what I've pointed out. Overall, there is no structure except Cardcaptor Sakura synopsis with a Rin insert. Not fun. And sure, fine, if you managed to chug through the series you're rewarded with the Inheritance of Cards and Demons, which is reskinned Blue Exorcist with magic shit.
Secondly, characters are flat. OCs that are introduced have two modes: love Rin, or hate him. This is unrealistic to the nth degree - especially coupled by the fact that that is literally all they are meant to do. Their lives revolve around Rin, who is just misunderstood, and a nice guy with no faults whatsoever. This is made worse when people who love him are good guys and the ones who don't are basically irredeemable dicks. Overall, I'm disappointed with how these OCs are used, and how they exacerbate the problem with the main character: Rin.
Rin is a Gary Stu. He has demon and human magic so now he's an overpowered main character who is always right no matter what. The author mended all of canon Rin's character flaws and plopped him back in the story with human magic gun. IOCAD SUFFERS from this decision as a result, and the canon characters end up becoming a watered down version of themselves. The Vatican is ultimately not a threat because Rin is beyond their control now, apparently. Which ruins the plot, and ruins any tension this story could have had. See where I'm going with here? The characters are flat, and therefore the plot goes nowhere.
Bonus round: writing & dialogue. It's like reading Riverdale in bad non-beta'd form. The conversations are like they are from the 1700s, and also if grammar was thrown out of the window. It's absurd to read this, and ruins any sense of immersion when also confronted with poor word choice ("Thoughtful" is repeated so many times) coupled with bad sentence structure. I do suggest the Author really plan out their stories and get a better beta, because the current one isn't doing a good job.
Conclusion: don't bother reading it. You're wasting time.