Current Options For Applet To Servlet Communication

My primary question is about which method is the best for having an applet of mine communication with a backend database of mine. In other words, I don't want to try learning a technology that is out of date or not a good fit for my goal. I purchased the O'Reilly title "Java Servlet Programming", but it seems to be very old and out of date (referencing Netscape 4, etc.) and I see a Java RMI O'Reilly title on Amazon, but it was written in 2001.

My basic goal is to allow my applet to have access to a back-end database for reading and writing. I understand that direct Applet to DB (via JDBC) access is a bad idea so my thought is to create a servlet (much like web service for lack of a better term) or an actual web service (RESTful would be my first guess) to broker the requests. I already have a very basic servlet running that has access to my database server so now I want to focus on the best method for making calls from the applet to the servlet but having said that I don't want to go down this road too far if a servlet is not the right tool for the job.

My reading has been leading me to RMI, but as I said, I don't want to focus on that if there is a better option. In a non-Java environment, I'd use a web service (REST, SOAP, etc.) and perhaps that's what I should do here as well and not even bother with a servlet per se and just go with a web service.I know there can be some subjectivity with regard to these choices and I don't need to know what the "best" one is.I don't want to use RMI if it's dead or has been surpassed by something else, for example.

Should I use a servlet? Should I use a web service? My needs are rather modest; query the database, send updates to the database, etc. Nothing too crazy.