• Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch

  • Skull-Crushing True Stories of the Most Hardcore Duels, Showdowns, Fistfights, Last Stands, and Military Engagements of All Time
  • By: Ben Thompson
  • Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
  • Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
  • 4.3 out of 5 stars (78 ratings)

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Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch  By  cover art

Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch

By: Ben Thompson
Narrated by: Stephen Bowlby
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Publisher's summary

Unstoppable true stories of the most hardcore showdowns, last stands, and military engagements of all time! When only one can live, it's an ultimate deathmatch!

This ain't no table tennis. You're not here to skip rope with your niece. You're here to witness the catastrophically awesome exploits of history's greatest badasses. Not only that, you're here to see what happens when badasses collide, when glory and doom hang in the balance, when two men enter one man leaves. If you dare listen, you'll hear the stories of....

  • Cyrus the Great: The king who forged the Persian Empire with blood, steel, and a few thousand rampaging camels
  • St. Moses the Black: The Patron Saint of Asskickings, who taught bandit thugs a lesson in turning the other cheek
  • The War of Aracau: The only successful indigenous resistance to Spanish colonization, led by a Mapuche warrior who strapped blades to his arms after the conquistadors sawed off his hands
  • The Rani of Jhansi: The Indian warrior princess who took on the British crown with a sword in each hand and her baby strapped to her back
  • Tango Mike-Mike: One lone Green Beret single-handedly rescues an entire Special Forces squad from a pinned-down position deep behind enemy lines in Cambodia
  • The Charge of the Australian Light Horse: Eight hundred horsemen armed with bayonets embark on the last great cavalry charge in history, rushing toward trenches filled with machine guns, rifles, and huge bullets
©2013 Ben Thompson (P)2013 HarperCollins Publishers

What listeners say about Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch

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  • KH
  • 03-19-13

Trash Fit For A 13 yr Old Bully

What would have made Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch better?

Dispense with the foul language and crude manner. I guess I should have known better. In this case you sure CAN know a book by it's cover.

What was most disappointing about Ben Thompson’s story?

High on crudity and very low on facts with regard to the story. I only listened to the Assyrian Persian and Greek sections and turned it off. This book is awful.

Any additional comments?

This book is more geared toward a juvenile delinquent. This is a first for me on Audible. Never have I outright rejected a book I've downloaded in all the years I've subscribed.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

great read

this is a great read, fills you full of the want to hear what comes next.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good idea, Poor execution

Where does Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

in the middle

If you’ve listened to books by Ben Thompson before, how does this one compare?

average

Any additional comments?

It was a good concept; sacrificing historical accuracy for entertainment value. It's just that the s**t talking was uncreative.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Aside from Standards of Literacy, It's ok LoL

I say standards of literacy because I believe the book is written without thinking about grammar, language, & repetition of words... I almost feel like I'm at one of those monster truck shows because the commercials on TV remind me of the narrator. But if u break it down to the basics, the stories are true (from my small knowledge of history & looking up certain parts in Wiki the content is accurate) with decent fictional content filling up the unknown parts of the historical record. Obv. with 'Badass' in the title the word is used waaaay too much along with normal slang that I used to speak when intoxicated in college to an extent while some slang is new to me.

TLC used to have a show that was similar to 'deadliest warrior' plus I love 'future weapons' & other military channel shows. This book is about 2-3 steps below that, lol, but I got it because I'd like to read a book that has multiple listings of past battles, conquests, major figures, & military campaigns. I think the author wrote 1 or 2 other books similar to this, but I would really rather read/listen to a book that is written for adults & not someone sitting on a couch watching Scarface & polishing his jewelry (JK, unfair generalization haha), but I really think it is the point of the book to be written in the 'common tongue' & 'slang' to be able to use sayings that u would never read in any book that has good literary content unless it involves a character who comes from the different demographics covered in the books language...

Vulgar language, graphic violence, & descriptive scenes from sex to fighting has never bothered me, if it doesn't bother u, & u have a credit to waste, the book is worth a read at 2x speed

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

It's like a rapper trying to give a history lesson

I have always been a fan of the idea behind Badass: Take historically significant characters, then present them in a larger than life, ridiculously exaggerated fashion with mature language. It's almost like a rapper wants to give you a history lesson.

I ended up laughing several times at the images that are portrayed in the book. If you've ever had a friend that says history is boring, this is the book to share with them.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The title speeks for it self

At the time I am writing this review (April 23 2013), this book has got 3,5 rating out of 4 ratings and two negative reviews. I completely disagree with both the reviews and the rating and I will tell you precisely why.

First of all, this book is about violent deeds. If you cannot stomach violence don't even consider this one. The same stands for those of you who can't stand bad language.
However, if you can accept that violence and bad language are, and sadly will probably always be a part of life, you can continue reading this review.

This book covers approximately 2.500 years of human history and besides of being filled with violence and bad language, is also filled with tails of men and women, that defied the laws of mathematics, statistics and probability. Furthermore, since history is filled, and sadly will probably always be filled with violance and that usually history turns by a bloody way, you can also get a ruff picture of how our modern world came to be. This book contains short stories, from all over the world, with minimum backround info supplyed by the author in order to understand them, about how genius, skill, courage and luck can alter the laws of reality and some times, turn the course of history.

To conclude, the narrator seems to understand what he is reading and succeeds to deliver the slightly ironic and flamboyant tone of the author. Listen to the sample, and you will get a good idea of what is to follow for 13 hours.

In a few words?
Badass: Ultimate Deathmatch: Skull-Crushing True Stories of the Most Hardcore Duels, Showdowns, Fistfights, Last Stands, and Military Engagements of All Time




.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

it was OK

Not even close to ass good as bad ass! the narrator has little humor and hard to get a good wag for the story lines.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Too many ball jokes

A little fun is great but this book’s got average of 2~4 jokes about genital torture for every story it tries to present. A 17 years old boy might find this book appealing.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Why?

The constant attempts at humor made this unlistenable for me. I really wanted to like this but I had to stop and get my credit back.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

wow

some serious men n woman here . great book had me laughing n going wow all the time . I got this one before I new was the 3rd so have to get the other 2 now . worth the time and money

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