i loved the books when they started coming out that was when star wars really felt dead and anything new having to do with star wars was a must. i read all those books up till ep1 and i still managed to read the darth maul book which i thought superior to ep1, and the first of the new jedi order series, after that it started to feel like star trek, too much a damn franchise. even though i'm sure those books were better written than the any of the prequels.
btw yes jedi was easily the least of the oot but it still felt like star wars and didnt overwhelm the other films like the prequels have