Darth Maul is a non-human. He is of the Zabr'ak species.
The movies are such a narrow view of the Star Wars universe that they hardly do it justice. To really understand it you must read the books. Most of them are well written and fairly exciting to read.
My view of the profecy and bringing balance to the force is that the galaxy was overrun with the Jedi. Their presence was so loud that it wasn't the dark side that was clouding their vision, but the overwhelming noise caused by so many jedi drawing on the Force. Anakin brought the force into balance by either killing or forcing the jedi into hiding. The jedi that went into hiding either stopped using the Force and suppressing their presence, or like yoda, balanced their use of the force by being near a 'dark echo' such as the cave Luke went into in Ep V.
Contrary to popular belief, the Sith didn't die with Vader and Palpatine, just like Yoda and Obi-wan weren't the only Jedi left after Ep III. The books have quite a few from each side popping up throughout the years.
As for the Black Fleet book trilogy, the hunt that Luke goes on for his mother was made up by the girl so that Luke would help her out. I dont remember the specifics of that trilogy, it has been many years since I read it.
My favorite Star Wars books have been the 'Thrawn Trilogy' and the 'Hand of Thrawn' duology written by Timothy Zahn. Right up there with those those books is 'The New Jedi Order' series of books. The current series of books 'Legacy of the Force' is also very promising, I have enjoyed the three books that have been published and eagerly await the next, due out the end of this month.
Not to say that those are the only good books, but those are the ones that I felt were the very best.
I would recommend these books to every Star Wars fan, but to get the full picture you should get a list of all the Star Wars books in chronological order and start from the beginning, well at least the books after Ep IV 'A New Hope'. I have enjoyed watching the characters grow and change over time. What I've read of the prequel books aren't bad either, but I am more attached to the characters from Episodes 4, 5, & 6
May the Force be with Ya'll:yoda: