I recently finished reading They Came From Below, by Blake Nelson. I would rate the amount enjoyment I received from reading this book a six on a 1-10 scale, ten being the most. It’s a “science fiction and fantasy” book, according to the inside cover jacket, but I’d also say it has a bit of romance, too. Main characters Emily and Reese only see each other a few months every year during the summer. When they meet, their primary concern is to “hook up with some cool guys.” Being the anti-social person that I am, I must refer to anything that involves relationships or “hooking up with cool guys” in either quotations or a cynical manner.

Enter Steve and Dave, two strange yet heart-throbbingly attractive teenage boys who make the girls’ dreams come true:

“They were the cutest guys I had ever seen in South Point. They were the cutest guys I had seen anywhere. They were like two young Brad Pitts. I swear to god. They looked just like him. It was too weird. I literally blinked my eyes and looked again.”

Ugh. Re-reading these excerpts makes me wonder how I ever got through the book the first time. (If you need an explanation as to why I am so disgusted by these scenes, then read these three words: Star Wars origami.) Anyway, while the Tempting Twosome may be stunningly sightly, they also act very strangely, like they aren’t used to normal human language and behavior. Emily and Reese eventually find out that they are aliens in human form out to save the oceans.

I guess I should have explained earlier that a highly toxic U.S. Navy “Hellfire” missile was lost in the depths of the North Atlantic. It radioactivity is confirmed to be “too high to risk human exposure”, so the area was evacuated and searching ceased. One Navy spokesman states that the population is lucky the missile was lost in such a deep part of the ocean. This way the toxic materials will only affect what lives in those lower regions, away from the tuna and other sea life that rake in the profits for fishing (how convenient!). Steve and Dave were sent as a last desperate effort to save our waters from the leaking missile. This just goes to show how idiotic our world can be when it comes to nuclear missiles and other weaponry. I could joke and say what ever happened to spears and stones, but now I must say what ever happened to the handgun, or even artillery? Suddenly everyone needs more of this explosive chemical power that can severely damage the environment.

While They Came from Below may seem like only a fantasy or science fiction book on the outside, it really also carries more of a deep and sad message. We are caring less about the environment and are wasting more of its resources. This is what Nelson is trying to get across to his readers in this novel.