C3PX said:

I too have been interested in reading the later books by Timothy Zahn, but haven't made up my mind to do so yet. Pollard's post has definitely piqued my interest. How about Zahn's latest Star Wars book, Allegiance? Has anyone read that?

If you want an opinion that isn't infused with a metric buttload of PT hatred, I'd say that Allegiance is at the bottom of the list of Zahn's SW novels (i.e. it's okay, but not great). It's set early in the OT and features Mara Jade and the Imperial 501st (fanwank alert!), but IMHO Zahn does better when he's writing outside of the OT. If you're still interested in reading it, I'd recommend checking it out of your local library or finding a cheap used paperback edition. Otherwise, you aren't really missing anything by skipping it.

For the record, my ranking of Zahn's novels would be: The Thrawn Trilogy, The Hand of Thrawn, Outbound Flight and Survivor's Quest (tied), and Allegiance.