I agree with you Dom. I really like Thrawn, but I think the new films are much more tied to the themes of all of the other films than the Thrawn trilogy was.

EDIT: ROTJ to TFA would be weird if they were like 5 years apart, but it’s been three decades, longer than the Galactic Empire even existed. Things have happened in between these two films, and TFA begins in medias res, just like ANH did.

DOUBLEEDIT: BiggsFan, you mentioned for awhile how you really disliked the Prequels after watching the Plinkett reviews and reading other online opinions. I was the same way, and even rewrote the prequels. Overtime I came to accept the Prequels flaws and come to really appreciate the story it was trying to tell, and it sounds like you were just the same.
I think if you give it some time, eventually you might finds things you like about these new films too.