It's really nice to read SW books that are not bogged down with prequelisms. Even though some of the Bantam stuff isn't that great, it has a large advantage over anything more recent because of this. Although, the New Jedi Order suxxor'd for quite different reasons; as the OP said it was depressing and stupid and weird and just didn't feel like 'Star Wars' at all. That was definitely the place where I gave up on the novels. Apparently, what came after that was even worse.

Also, the Vong were completely ripped off from Species 8472 from Star Trek: Voyager, who were much cooler.