Stupid fucking unstable computer, reboot me won't you...
My reply was lost because of my computer, but let me see if I can type it ou again.
Zahn, who probably wrote the best EU books, still made some shitty mistakes. To put it succinctly:
The Ysalamiri were an artificial Jedi power limitation/nullification, and as such I despise this the most out of all the EU. If you want to write Jedi without turning them into superheroes then use the Dark Side. Or place limitations on their power, so not everyone has the ability to throw force-lightening. Or make it exhausting to use the powers, like when Luke tries TKing the X-wing out from the swamp he falls to the ground knackered. ALL of which have a precedent in the films.
Thrawn. He may be an art-interpretation genius, but his real weapon is his reputation not his strategy. Pellaeon didn't have the mettle to fight Ackbar's fleet after Thrawn died, and yet the latter somehow seemed to think it was winnable. Nowhere is Zahn's character-wanking more evident than in the duology - everyone shits his or her pants because they think Thrawn has returned from the dead, and in some cases just assume he can win any engagement without justification (like Mara does when told about the Outbound flight project, she automatically assumes Thrawn wiped them out quite easily).
Also, I think the EU minimalism started with Zahn. Note, I said "started with" not "chief abuser of" - that crime I leave in the hands of the majority of EU authors (such as the 2 VSDs being a Galactic threat, or the Ssi-ruvi menace being dealt with a single Rebel ship, or Rogue Squadron destroying the Lusankya etc). He also can't write battles. He simply can't, or won't. At the end of TLC I was expecting a titanic clash of fleets the likes of which would dwarf Endor. Do we get? Nope. We get the Grand Admiral of the Artist Appreciation Society getting stabbed by Ruhk (a good twist, and needed to be in the book), but then Captain Witless and Gutless calls a general retreat rather than staying and fighting. Even if Pellaeon lost he would have left the battle with some valued experience - like not believing the hype about some guy who likes paintings.
(jesus, this is succint?
)
Anyway, KJA lost me quite early in his abominable Jedi Academy Trilogy, I don't know what concept or idea he introduced which sucked - I just think he sucks, period. Stackpole shat me with his constant fighter-wankfest. I love X-wings too, but no way 12 of them and a couple of freighters are gonna finish an Executor battleship. Allston's books are apparently really good, according to my friend - much better than Stackpole. Also, Star By Star is considered to be the best EU novel by far, even if it has the Yuuzhon Vong in it. The BFC is all right, but not Star Wars. He should have changed the characters names and it would have been alright.
Anyway that's all - I better submit this before my computer reboots again.
