3. The Thrawn Trilogy
Written by Timothy Zahn, the three Thrawn novels Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, and The Last Command came at a time when interest in Star Wars was dwindling and managed to bolster the Expanded Universe into full swing once more making the trilogy often recognized as some of the best EU work out there. Set five years after Return of the Jedi, the trilogy centers on the New Republic's struggle with the remnant of the Empire. Remember at the end of Jedi when they blow up the super star destroyer called the Executor and then the second Death star? All the rebels are cheering because they won, but there's like hundreds of star destroyers left that just sort of float away? Well these stories are about what happened to those guys and their new chilling leader, Grand Admiral Thrawn. Noted for being the only non-human in the highest ranks of Imperial Command (the Empire in case you didn't know is as decidedly racist as the Nazis they're based off), Thrawn is both a bizarre and brilliant tactician who shows the Alliance time and again that the Empire is far from being dead. Plus he has red eyes making him menacing.