@Soymuscle Mike just started reading Heir to the Empire, and I'm about 8 chapters in.
I never imagined myself ever taking any kind of interest in these books, but this is actually cool so far. I'm 1/4 into the book and it's already making more sense than what we got in the Disney Trilogy.
In the very first chapter, Thrawn admonishes one of his people for shouting across the bridge instead of walking up and talking to his officers. On top of that, you see that he's cultured (he's an art enthusiast), and is calculating, planning multiple steps ahead of his enemies. This establishes Thrawn as a no-nonsense villain who is cunning and doesn't throw temper tantrums when he loses (like Kylo Ren for example).
On top of that, you have an in-character Luke Skywalker who only fights as a last resort, a rebel alliance with an actual republic and a legacy to protect (since Leia is pregnant with the Solo twins at this point), and you have Luke, Leia, and Han all getting together and having an actual adventure together... which we never got in the Disney trilogy.
In general, the EU had established rules that kept everything in check, which I appreciate.
The EU writers weren't allowed to kill Luke/Han/Leia because George Lucas understood that there was a draw behind their dynamic.
They weren't allowed to demystify Yoda by revealing his homeworld or the name of his species.
The EU writers also weren't allowed to touch anything involving Anakin's backstory pre-ANH or the Clone Wars, because George Lucas didn't want other writers potentially contradicting the story he was getting ready to tell with the prequels.
I'm gonna hold my L for this one, because I was wrong about George Lucas. He made a lot of mistakes with the prequels--mainly their over-reliance on CG and their wooden dialogue. But his vision was still there, and that kept Star Wars in a way better place since the writers had to follow actual rules.
