A lot of people judge the EU by the kind of character development you mention. To me, only the movies will ever be canon so as long as the characters feel right and the story feels like Star Wars, that's all I need.NeverarGreat said:
I know that these books basically began the EU, but I am simply bewildered that so many people say that Zahn understands Star Wars better than Lucas. Zahn never tells us anything new about the Force, doesn't really force any of the primary cast to change, and recycles much of their dialogue from the movies without insight. Thrawn and Mara Jade seemed to be the only characters that he cared about, and the books shine in their tactical and military subtleties, but that's about their only strength.
On that basis, pretty much everything I've ever read of Zahn's feels nothing like Star Wars to me.