Boogie said:
Eh, I didn't mind KJA, but I'll admit his stuff isn't nearly as good as Stackpole or Zahn.
People like to bash KJA, but let's face it, his trilogy was probably closest to matching what George Lucas did, with the superweapons, the Jedi training, the Sith, etc. Zahn's trilogy, while better, is more like what Star Wars fans wanted after growing up and demanding more depth and sophistication.
Anyway, I'd recommend Zahn's first trilogy. Read that one first and foremost. I'd screw everything he wrote after that in the trilogy, because it's mostly arrogant tripe where he wedges the couple original characters he created further and further into the universe in such unrealistic ways. It just pissed me off that he'd bring back his characters and throw them into the very forefront of the situation after 15 years or whatever. I think his later stories were just too egotistical. He didn't want to incorporate what other authors did. He seemed hellbent on reclaiming the EU as something he created.
The X-Wing books kickass, enough said. Except maybe for Isard's Revenge which was a bit hokey from what I remember, and suffered from Zahn's syndrome of making the author's own creations supremely important in the universe. The X-Wing comics were also stellar. Great characters, action and art.
The trilogy Kevin J Anderson did was pretty enjoyable, although maybe not as well written as the above. His Tales of the Jedi comics also kicked a lot of ass.
Stackpole's I, Jedi also covers some of the same events as the KJA trilogy, even to handle some retconning here and there, but it's a nice exploration of his main character creation without the ego of Zahn's later stuff.
