I liked the Hand books. In fact, I just finished them. I don't think I would ever return to them, but they were good reads for sure. While a little drawn out, Thrawn's supposed return was a great scheme and I liked knowing how it happened from the very beginning instead of it being a surprise.

The ending of the duology, though, is definitely a series of clusterfuck deus-ex machinas that barely make sense. I still enjoyed it, but the resolution felt ... well, too good. Everything came together perfectly all too fast.