I get the disdain for a lot of larger EU projects though. Especially the entire Shadows of the Empire project, the disdain for that one I totally get. Prince Sex Pest and the Han Solo replacement don’t have much lasting appeal.
It’a funny you mention that, cause I’m actually rereading Shadows of the Empire right now. I read it over a decade ago, and the writing is a lot cornier than I remembered. The writing style is clearly oriented toward a younger reader, which makes the creepy Xizor scenes feel even more out-of-place and weird.
The best thing we got out of that whole MMP was all the cool artwork the Hildebrandt brothers did depicting scenes from the book. I love those.
I still don’t get why’d people get vitriolic about it, though. It’s non-canon and has no bearing on current Star Wars. It’s just something harmless that’s there for people to look back on and enjoy, if they want to.
I loved Shadows of the Empire when I read it in high school. All the SW material I’d consumed up to that point had been pretty chaste, so I was … interested … by the plot’s relatively heavy involvement of sex. I also really liked the insight into Vader’s character. But when I revisited the novel in my twenties, none of that wowed me anymore. I find it meh nowadays.