If I remember my Bible studies there's stuff in there about being caretakers of the land and such, in fact.

NRSG: That, too. (I truly ought to get Chessy on this; she would tear this to shreds...)

This bit is just far too stupid for words. It also makes Axis look like a moron for just ignoring it when he should be instantly assuming it's witchcraft.

For that matter, why is Gilbert, the religious caricature, shouting about how this means they must be of the Forbidden or something like that?

For these two assholes, yes. They keep things to themselves for no reason all the goddam time just so the author can drag things out to suit herself.

Because this book has not dragged on long enough yet...

And Axis remains a disgusting racist for the entire trilogy.

I am very unsurprised.

Of course, this among other things makes it pretty obvious that the author herself was racist as well as hopelessly misogynistic.

In other words, the best person to write a "feminist" fantasy that has "overcoming bigotry" baked into its plot!

On an entirely other note, I think I have found a solution for the problem of quotes ending the cut text: curly quotes do seem to work.