I did read the Zahn novel in 1991 and the others as they came out. I think Zahn had a lot of right ideas about the way Star Wars was supposed to work, but I think the cloning got a bit out of hand.
Honestly, I was so happy Star Wars was back after being all but lost since 1984 or so that I didn't care if the cloning was weird or if salamanders could push back the force, etc.