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Mark Benjamin is the author of two books - one, in an adult urban fantasy series, The Royal Blood Chronicles; and the second, a short story. Devouring all books he could get his hands on from an early age, he managed to ruin his eyesight by reading (when he should have been asleep) under his bedcovers with a torch (video games had no say in his bad eyesight...okay, maybe a little). His love of books translated to a passion for writing, which he began aged ten (he still has his first juvenile novel to this day).
Currently working for a national bank, his dream job is to be a full-time author, a path he fully took when he sent a sample of his work to a ten-week introductory fiction course funded by an American foundation and conducted worldwide in 2010. Out of the 15 available slots, one was his out of hundreds of thousands of applicants (okay, perhaps a slight exaggeration, but it was advertised in the national dailies).
When not writing his second book or planning literary world domination, Mark enjoys spending time with his wife, entertaining his under one-year old daughter, playing on his Playstation (AnnA) and reading (obviously).
Reviewed by Liz Konkel for Readers' Favorite
A Change of Heart by Mark Benjamin follows the story of Gabriel as he finds his way into the midst of a vampire war. The humans hate the vampires. The vampires have an internal fight for power. Gabriel just wants to get home without bullies beating him up, or dealing with his drunk of an uncle. His plan in life is to graduate and get a good job so he can help out his aunt. When he finds a dying man in the alley, he chooses to hide him from bullies. Turns out the man wasn't human. The vampire turns him, thinking he's the one from his Vision, but dies before Gabriel can understand the transformation he's to endure. That's when his life changed.
Arthur wants to kill Lucas. Darius wants to kill his siblings. Everyone has an agenda. The humans want the vampires dead, and the vampires have a power struggle. Poor Gabriel is just thrown into this world by being in the wrong alley. A Change of Heart has an interesting literary structure, with various scenes from a different character's perspective. Mark Benjamin handles the structure well, allowing insight to a character to be gained with each scene.
Gabriel's voice is the biggest, but having voices like Rachel and Peter, it allows one to garner sympathy for characters who may not have been seen otherwise. It helps that's done in third person, so it's easy to follow what's happening with the human (Knights) side, and the vampire side, and then with Gabriel and his friends. A Change of Heart is a literary approach to vampires, taking several viewpoints to create one story, like a puzzle coming together. Perfect for lovers of vampires looking for something new.
