Vaderisnothayden said:
Once you start resurrecting characters you lose something.

*cough*obiwankenobi*cough*

I haven't read much EU in years and years, but here's some thoughts.

The Tales of anthologies really shone, exploring different characters and a variety of circumstances in the Star Wars universe. Many of the tales are just good stories.

Dark Empire is probably both the best vision of a near-term post-RotJ galaxy yet, but it's also great science fantasy in its own right. On film, Palpatine is merely a cackling megalomaniac, with no real motive except to take over the Galaxy then wander about it in his bathrobe. DE and its associated WEG sourcebook really delve into Palpatine's plans for himself and the galaxy. The story was unfortunately truncated, but most of what there is is good.

Tom Veitch's other big Star Wars work, Tales of the Jedi, dovetails nicely with DE. It's also a great story with good characters. The quality declines quite a bit when Kevin J. Anderson takes over, but his final entry in the saga, Redemption, is easily on par with Veitch's work. Veitch pretty much invented the Sith, and later versions just aren't as interesting. For many years he was also the primary source on OR-era Jedi, who managed to be heroic and not at all the dorks Lucas decided they were.

There's also a lot to like in the prose X-wing series, and many of the 90s computer games.