Re: God I love this
Don't worry. The art gets better; personally I think Dark Force Rising has the best art, but The Last Command doesn't surrender much to it.
Eh? But that makes Survivor's Quest and Outbound Flight less canon than the NJO! And Allegiance less canon than the Dark Nest Trilogy! Plus, what about Death Star, the Medstar Duology, The Cestus Deception? And Choices, which doesn't come out until 2011? How could they be less canon than Dark Empire or the Black Fleet Crisis or Darksaber?
You may have noticed that the recent non-Zahn books I like all take place relatively early, with little involvement with the Big Three. That actually holds true with how I regard the rest of the EU, really. I like X-Wing pilots, and plots which aren't the New Biggest Threat Han, Leia and Luke Have Ever Faced Ever.
I love this trilogy too. Although honestly, I preferred the Hand of Thrawn duology, even if it did leave me hanging about what happened with the Devists.