Hmm, I liked both. They told SW stories from a different point of view, different style. I enjoyed them and they fit into the SW universe, or at least I was able to fit them into my version with adjustments on my part. I think most of the Lucas-hate comes generally from 'Hey, your SW is not what I imagined MY SW was", and I'm VERY important in my little part of the web blah blah blah.
Taking the stories at face-value, I saw a younger Han, with the beginnings of his self-delusion that he is "hard". By the time New Hope comes around, he's had more practice at it, is pretty good at survival, but lost some of the youthful teen bits. Han is smart at some things, but generally not very bright. Remember his shouting in excitement during battle scenes in IV? He still has some of that youth.
When my family asks me "Why did he do that???" in a movie, they hate my answer "because it was written that way and the author thought it was great plot development".