The Kingslayer: Seven Steps to the Arbiter

by L. Ron Hubbard

Charged with an epic mission to find and destroy the one many believed to be the evil mastermind of the galaxy, a brilliant young man's destiny takes on strange and startling dimensions.This spellbinding story opens with high-voltage excitement in the year 3975, with the abrupt expulsion of Kit Kellan from the School of Engineering of the prestigious Terra University in Washington, D.C. for engaging in original thought. As he is led from the school, Kit is abducted by a diplomat from the People's Revolutionary Society-an organization dedicated to freeing the galaxy from the dark tyranny of the mysterious Arbiter.

With no choice except to undertake the dangerous missions assigned to him, Kit is swept, step by perilous step, toward a cosmic encounter with the Arbiter-and a stunning and surprising climax.

Genres: Science Fiction

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

L. Ron Hubbard is universally acclaimed as the single most influential author and humanitarian of this modern age. His definitive works on the mind and spirit—comprising over 350 million copies in circulation and more than 40 international bestsellers—have resulted in a legacy benefiting millions and a movement spanning all cultures.

Reviews

[Read1000books · Rating 3 out of 5]

Let's begin by dealing with the elephant in the room, shall we. This book was written by L. Ron Hubbard. Yes, L. Ron Hubbard was the founder of Scientology and No, everything he wrote was not about Scientology. As I recall, L. Ron came up with Scientology sometime in the 1950's; he was writing pulp fiction, sci-fi, westerns, etc., etc., for two decades before that (the featured novel in this book was written in 1949). Just for the record, I am not a Scientologist and am not promoting that philosophy in this review. As with any author, where L. Ron disagrees with the Bible, I disagree with L. Ron. All that said, the guy could write a good story. Now, to the review...
"Seven Steps..." is a classic sci-fi novel with an unpredictable protagonist and an ending I didn't see coming (3 stars). This edition includes two bonus short stories: "The Beast", which is basically a safari tale, only qualifying as sci-fi because it takes place on Venus (2 stars), and "The Invaders", which I really liked (4 stars) because of the brilliant but humble, gentle-giant hero Gedso Ion Brown. I hope I come across more stories with this character.

[Kaj Samuelsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now it was a few years since I read it last time, but it is still good, with its twists and turns. I will definitely read it again.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable enough for what it is. Action packed as you would expect from Hubbard. It is not anywhere close to his best work or best writing. A nice twist at the end. But too much story in such a short amount of time. Could have easily been expanded to really flesh out the characters and plot.

[Phillip Marashian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've listened to this more times than I can count. It's always fun to listen to and never gets old.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe 2.5 stars at best, but the story was just ok for me, although the full cast dramatized audio book was very well done. Christopher "Kit" Kellan is a red-headed genius (evidently in Hubbard's world the two go together) who has been recruited by a secret organization to overthrow and assassinate The Arbiter (the evil over-lord of the Galaxy). One of the big things that bugged me is that the sub-title of this book is "Seven Steps to Arbiter" (alluding to a 7 step hero process, a la Hercules) but Kit manages to bypass 6 steps and get there after just one mission.

SPOILER ALERT!

The big surprise twist ending is that Kit turns out to be the son of the Arbiter, who was once red-headed, and is now very old and frail and needs a successor. It also turns out that the Arbiter is not an evil over-lord, but a wise and benevolent ruler and the secret organization bent on assassinating the Arbiter was actually orchestrated by him to test Kit. It ends with Kit's instant coronation and everyone beaming at him with pride and respect and applause.

[Stewart · Rating 1 out of 5]

The kind folks at Galaxy Press have given me a few copies of their audiobooks over the years at semiannual ALA conferences. I promised one of their booth reps this summer that I'd post reviews of them on Goodreads to repay their generosity.

I'm sorry to say that this book was dreadful. When it was published I imagine it was considered on par with the ideas in one of Robert A. Heinlein's juvenile novels, but for a writer as talented as L. Ron Hubbard, this represents a complete misfire, and probably should've been left to antiquity rather than recorded as an admittedly well-done audiobook.

The story is ridiculous. Its execution is clumsy. Its characters are awful and some are borderline racist by today's standards. The "twist" at the end, while it closes some of the gaping plot holes, is just ludicrous.

Avoid at all costs.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

In many ways this could have been written more recently, but a couple oddities popped up - a couple racial references along the way show it was clearly written long ago, and one piece of technology just sticks out as being an idea that must be from the distant past.

A classic pulp SF book though, which I suppose is another way to show it wasn't written recently :-)

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a cute book with a good twist.

[Andrew Obrigewitsch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to this years ago, but from what I can remember it was a fun short story.

[Bryan457 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun romp with a larger than life protagonist (almost too similar to Jettero Heller, the protagonist of his 10 volume Mission Earth series). It has a great ending.