Mmm, maybe the action scenes were easier to track in Stackpole, but I found the action in Allston to be more interesting anyway? Dogfighting doesn't interest me as much as solid characterization and dialogue in this class of books, and Allston definitely does those better; every character in Stackpole's books sounds extremely similar and way, way too cerebral and in control (though he gets marginally better at this in the third and fourth books).

Is the NJO that bad? Is it not worth even starting? I tried to read Jedi Search a few months ago, and it was god-awful, piss-poor writing that I really, really don't wanna put myself through. If NJO is the same, I will not bother.