I'm reading The Jedi Academy Trilogy by Kevin J. Anderson and I must say that it is more entertaining than The Thrawn Trilogy... BUT it feels more like watching a cool TV series than a trilogy of movies in the sens that the story feels more scattered, less focused. That's the strenght and the weakness of those books, IMO.

Let's say that if one had to adapt one of those trilogy on the big screen, The Thrawn trilogy would be easier to do (stronger characters, more focused story) but on paper I prefer the Jedi Academy.