However, while The Servant of the Bones adds more definition to her philosophy, it's rather limp. We hear Azriel's tale of growing up a Hebrew in Babylon, of befriending the god Marduk, of being murdered as part of an ancient spell to create a servitor spirit. This man, it seems, wants to release poison gas and take over the world. All throughout, we hear stuff about God, about souls rejoining the flame of the divine, of how we are on this world to love and learn and be kind to one another. Rice incorporates recent news events into the novel - the Oklahoma City bombing, the gas attacks on the Tokyo subway, other cult activities, and even the Balkan war and the Simpson trial.
Rice has noble motives.
Which is exactly the problem. Azriel is so damned good, so freaking nice , that he has become Rice's blandest hero. He lacks Lestat's compelling amorality - or the moral ambiguity of the Mayfair witches. Unlike her other books, Rice's Servant takes a firm moral stand. A noble motive, but it doesn't make for a good story.