After that, the single most impactful event of all EU happened. Chewie was killed. That was done to "make Star Wars more real". That turned off yet another large group of fans. I think that's what turned me off. I read it through, and it's a good book, I just don't like the whole idea of "making it more real". If I want real, I'll turn on the evening news. When I watch Star Wars or read a book or comic, I want to escape. I want to watch (or read) my favorite heroes struggle with something and then come out on top. Who cares if you know they're not going to die? Nobody cares anyway unless they release a book with "A key player in the Star Wars universe dies!" I think that's become the "superweapon of the week". When I hear about a major character dying, I just say "Oh yeah, who'd they kill this time?" What's the point of making it "more real" if there's no more shock value in it?
Anyway, the Thrawn Trilogy is still hailed as the best. The NJO series was pretty good too, I just don't like it on principal (I don't like investing time in a bunch of characters just to see them all killed off). I personally don't like the way the NJO ended (no, I haven't fully read them all), mostly because I think it turned into a political commentary of the last 50 years instead of staying in the realm of Sci-Fi.
I do read all the comics though. They have a tendency not to kill major characters in the comics. That makes them a lot funner to read
