I've read many of the now non-canonical Star Wars novels, and like many, I consider Timothy Zahn's Heir to Empire trilogy the gold standard for Star Wars novels. Since the franchise was overhauled, the only novels that tempted me enough were Zahn's Thrawn trilogy that reintroduced the character of Grand Admiral Thrawn back into canon, and I thought it was okay, but they didn't make me want to read other novels from the retconned canon, and I didn't read any more for several years. Bloodlines recently came to me highly recommended, so I gave it a shot, and I liked it pretty well. It had the significant challenge of telling a compelling story against the background of the fall of the New Republic, but I think it mostly succeeded.