I read that trilogy a bit over a year ago. I agree, some parts were fun and interesting, some plain dumb. This is my review I gave in November in the What do you LIKE about the EU? thread:
darth_ender said:
You know, I remember when I first heard of the the Jedi Academy Trilogy...I couldn't have been more than 11 years old, and my friend had read all three. He described the book to me, particularly the Sun Crusher, and Exar Kun/Luke's disembodiment. I remember thinking the ideas were rather stupid. I still think they are pretty dumb, but I've learned to enjoy the EU better, as I've said many times on her before, by reading the books somewhat in isolation instead of part of a large continuity. I didn't like a dinky little ship being more powerful than the Death Star before, but when I finally read the trilogy mere months ago, I didn't mind it as much because I sort of let go of the idea that this had to exist in my personal Star Wars universe. I just let it be, and decided that I could like the Sun Crusher as its own plot device.
Since I'd rather discuss the Thrawn Trilogy, but never gave much of an opinion on the Jedi Academy trilogy before, I will mention my likes and dislikes, and hopefully I can steer back towards the previous conversation.
Things I liked:
The concept of Luke re-establishing the Jedi Order with an Academy
The general idea of Exar Kun, though I feel he was poorly executed
The corruption of a student, though again the execution wasn't fantastic, and his repentance was pretty lame...but I'll save this for the second part of this list
A rogue admiral with her fleet
Kessell
Kinda liked the Death Star prototype, though another Death Star is cliched
Grew to like the Sun CrusherThings I did not like:
The Blobstacle Course--absolutely worst idea
Admiral Daala's ongoing charisma in spite of her repeated failure[EDIT: what I mean is, why on earth would her stupid crew continue to follow her as she repeatedly killed off thousands of the men beneath her with her incompetence--she never does ANYTHING to prove herself worthwhile - 9/5/12]
Exar Kun's defeat
Another fallen Jedi who, in spite of repeated warning that "once you start down the dark path..." manages to return to the light, as well as the self-inflicted tragedy surrounding this character
The Maw administrative staff and the ridiculous 'humor' surrounding their escapades
The nature of glitterstim spice
The description of Sabaac, which I used to think was a game that required some level of skill
What's funny is while I was looking for my review, the comment just before mine was this:
DuracellEnergizer said:
I kinda like the Jedi Academy Trilogy; it's how I'd imagine those old pulp magazines to be - not particularily well-written, but entertaining nonetheless.
DOUBLE STANDARDS!!!
;)