Task: Sentiment Analysis
Input (English): Not that good . I don't mean not very good, I mean not as good as people say it is. I really don't understand why people think Zahn is so brilliant.     Zahn is an excellent storyteller, but honestly, he isn't a very good writer. The trilogy is plagued by gratuitous references back to events in the movies. "Luke reaches for his lightsaber, and recalls when he was hung upside down in a wampa cave on Hoth and had to use the Force to get his lightsaber from the snow." It's not necessary, and I groaned every time Zahn did it. James Luceno knows how to make appropriate and timely references. Zahn fails.    I personally liked the specific technical jargon, but I'm surprised that most other people did, too.     The story, though, what can I say? It's a good story. Grand Admiral Thrawn is the most awesome person I know. It was genuinely hard to be happy seeing the empire defeated this time around. I hated C'Boath, but then again, you'te supposed to.  The noghri are a fascinating creation and their story is followed all the way through.     Everyone we know from the movies are there with a role, and act appropriately, although you never get the feeling that you've learned anything more about any existing character. New characters, like Mara Jade and Talon Kaarde, are superb additions to the saga. Creating characters really is Zahn's strongest point, I feel.     The books fall victim of being written before the prequels, and being early EU novels in general but that is no one's fault, and the "errors" are reconciled easily enough.    As a trilogy, it is consistent and drives towards a consistent goal throughout.     One other thing about the story, and I think this is why so many people adore these books more than I think they deserve, is that it is epic. I have yet to read another Star Wars book or series that approaches the expanse and import of this trilogy. It really concerns a huge part of the Star Wars timeline, and as a story matches the significance of the movies themselves, unlike any other books. That doesn't make these books the best books, most interesting, or best written, but I think it is that epic feeling that makes this series so popular, despite being unspectacular in several ways.
Output (English): POS