[EU] So, what in EU is worth it

[Orius]

I'll chime in for both the Thrawn Trilogy and Shadows of the Empire. The Thrawn trilogy does capture the feel of the Star Wars universe fairly well, and introduces some very memorable characters: Thrawn, Mara Jade, Talon Karrde, and Joruus C'baoth. The plot itself is very good.

Shadows is great too. It sets up some of the background for Jedi, and Xizor is a wonderfully despicable villain. I liked Dash too, ok, sure he's a version of Han on steroids, but he's still a fun character. We see Luke finally achieve the mastery of the Force that makes him a full fledged Jedi. And there's plenty of great scenes with Vader.

KJA's stuff is bad. Unfortunate too, because both the Jedi Academy Trilogy and Darksaber have some important events in the storyline. However, his bumbling villains really hurt the stories, as well as silly nonsense like blob races and Han and Lando gambling on the Falcon. Admiral Daala is also not believable as a villain; see's supposed to be a tactical genius, but she consistantly gets her ass kicked by the New Republic because she makes some serious blunders (still, the scene in Darksaber where she gasses all the Imperial warlords is good). It's a shame too, because there are some moments in KJA's stuff that's actually pretty good.

With Hambly, I've only read Children of the Jedi. I didn't really much care for it the first place, and the prequels totally contradict it anyway by introducing a celibate Jedi order. It can be more or less ignored.

As for the Black Fleet Crisis: this really could have been good, except that the author's structuring of the book really hurts it, particulary in the second book. Lando's side plot is somewhat interesting, but stretched out far too much, and starting the second book with it really put a drag on the story. Otherwise, the main storyline about whether or not the Republic should take a stand against the Yevetha really isn't that bad. And because I feel like being sadistic, I feel compelled to point out that the series has references to both the Holiday Special and the Ewok TV movies.

Haven't read the NJO stuuf, so can't comment on that.

Bottom line: the Star Wars novels, like any shared universe has a lot of mixed content some of it good, some bad.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

Dark Empire is just horrid and my hate knows no limit!

I can feeeeel the haaaate flowing through you. Soon your journey to the dork side will be completed.

That said, I too feel DE is a vast stinky space turd, the kind of thing that hit and spatters all over the view ports as you come out of hyperdrive, obscuring your vision of an otherwise beautiful sight. Can’t come up with new villains, can’t manage decent drama or story telling, why not revisit the well – even if it’s not your well. Pha.

Not that NJO were any better.

For my part, I don’t like any of the EU, aside from the novelizations and the Zahn trilogy (lovely mix of old and new, no babies tossed out with the bath water) and a double-handful of stories from the comic books.