Planet of the Japes (Space Team Universe, 7)

When a cyberattack threatens to drain Space Team's finances, their resident cyborg Mech stumbles onto a hidden partition in his own hard drive containing mysterious coordinates. Those coordinates lead the crew to Funworld, a planet-sized amusement park populated by unsettlingly cheerful AI clownbots and staffed by a management team with apparent contempt for basic safety protocols. Stripped of their weapons and facing a shapeshifter who has lost the ability to shift, the team digs deeper into Funworld's secrets, descending toward a dark core that holds revelations none of them, least of all Mech, were prepared to face.

Barry J. Hutchison's seventh Space Team installment earns its 4.33 Goodreads rating by balancing absurdist comedy with genuine stakes, and the eleven-narrator cast amplifies both. The ensemble brings distinct energy to each character, keeping the 7-hour runtime brisk and the rapid-fire jokes landing with proper comedic timing. Carolyn Kashner, Danny Gavigan, and the full company handle tonal whiplash between slapstick and suspense with ease, making this one of those rare audio productions where the performance elevates the already-sharp source material.