Painful, painful, painful. I was smack in the middle of a revival of my love of Star Wars thanks to [author:Timothy Zahn]'s Thrawn Trilogy. I wanted more, had to have it, so I quickly snapped up these from my local bookseller. The smile on my face soon faded as I waded through the first book. None of the characters sounded like I imagined them...they said things they wouldn't say, did things that I KNEW they wouldn't do. The worst offenses were against characters that Zahn had created...KJA's interpretation of Senator Bel Iblis was horrid, and Mara Jade with Lando? Lame. The added subplots were, well lame. Lame is probably the best word to describe every original though KJA tried to shoehorn in.