Servant of the Bones - Anne Rice

SERVANT OF THE BONES is Anne Rice's new electrifying novel, with a hero as mesmerising, seductive and ambivalent as the vampire Lestat. Azriel is a restless Jewish spirit, born almost 2500 years ago in Babylon, who can be called forth by whoever holds and understands the arcane mystery of the casket of golden bones he is tied to. Caught between heaven and earth, Azriel is forced to bear witness to the long and troubled history of Western civilisation, from the household of an ancient Greek philosopher and the deathbed of Alexander the Great, to the Mongolian Steppes and fourteenth century Strasbourg, where Jews were made scapegoats for the Black Death. And finally in the present, he is summoned to witness and avenge a brutal murder on Fifth Avenue. The dead woman is Esther, step-daughter of Gregory Belkin, fanatical messianic leader of a worldwide cult, the Temple of the Mind. Belkin is known to be the son of Holocaust victims, but he has a secret history which binds Azriel's fate to his. SERVANT OF THE BONES is as rich and terrifying, as sensual and violent as any novel by Anne Rice - an enthralling epic which conjures up more than two thousand years of Jewish history and penetrates the unfolding mysteries of evil, redemption, life and death.

Published: 1999-03-01 (B E Trice Pub)

ISBN: 9780963192561

Language:

Format: Hardcover, 416 pages

Goodreads' rating: -

Genres

Fiction Horror Fantasy Paranormal

Reviews

Nada rated it

This one seems to be written during the height of Rice's creative talents. Although it did have a few boring moments, I actually really liked it. The mythology and ritual of how djinn work in her universe is actually pretty cool. I like that the continuity of how spiritual beings kind of coalesce by pulling atoms and molecules together out of thin air to create their bodies was fascinating, as was seen with Lasher and Memnoch in other stories. Forget the overused characters like Lestat, this one needs a sequel.

Byrle rated it

Like most of Anne Rice's later work, this book is written in a loose, breathy semisoftcore, purple overwrought style and is sprinkled with too many one sentence paragraphs. The premise of the story isn't bad and I didn't have a hard time getting though it but it does give one that creepy squirrely feeling of having unintentionally intruded upon someone else's sexual fantasies about Antonio Banderas.

Anissa rated it

Anne Rice tells the story slowly; A demon or god recalling his past while a temporary recluse writer transcribes the story for him is a unique story line. Rice tells the story with such care that you come to find yourself attached to this man who is now neither living or dead, no longer a man but not quite an all-powerful god. I enjoyed this strange tale of how a god is created where usually gods simply exist, they are not given a human element at all. I would like to re-read this text because I feel there is so much more to the human side of the god presented in the writing. As for my own writing the ability of telling a story within a story would be a skill of interest. The way Rice relates it to the reader, with such smooth transitions,one has no difficulty with telling if they are in the present or the past.