No, I haven't read them but the thing is I'm pretty tired of people making fun of elves and their "lack of masculinity" because they did it a lot in World of Warcraft with the Blood Elf males, calling them gay and things like that. Personally I think they are the most human looking race in that game, so forgive me if I start defending the "elven race". Actually I saw an elf outside the local gameshop yesterday. He was a Lotr fan.
Jimmy Kraud's leadership bonus was useful to me because I got the map to Tekron early, sneaked past the troops and had it added to my 8000 LS I had atm. 8000 + 700. Not that bad imo. But of course the item slots are why you take him along from the start.