Nate Fischer has been grinding out a living in New York's underground poker clubs. A decade ago, as a young painter, it seemed like the perfect way to pay the bills. Now he's hit a cold streak. His once-promising art career is in freefall. His wife's flirting with a dashing book editor. And his ex-con father's problems are becoming his own. On any given night, a bad beat could mean the collapse of his house-of-cards life.

Stranded at a remote farmhouse with no heat, no power and a dwindling food supply, the people of a yoga retreat face the possibility that they may not survive.

"Adrien Desfourneaux, professor of magic and disgraced ex-physician, has discovered a conspiracy. Someone is inflicting magical comas on the inhabitants of the massive city of Astrum, and no one knows how or why. Caught between a faction of scheming magical academics and an explosive schism in the ranks of the Astrum's power-hungry military, Adrien is swallowed by the growing chaos. Alongside Gennady, an unruly, damaged young soldier, and Malise,...