Well it doesn’t outright contradict anything, but it strains credulity to imagine the Emperor coordinating the Death Star 2 trap while also trying to turn Luke to the Dark Side. Apart from being unnecessary, wouldn’t it have been better to just concentrate on one thing at a time so that you don’t half-ass the corruption of the guy you want to replace your right-hand-man?

My primary issue with the Force as portrayed in the Zhan novels is that he interprets it as a literal energy field like shields or holograms, instead of the spiritual force that it should be. It is like if you sailed up to Jesus walking on the surface of a lake and pulled out a religion-cancelling cat, and he suddenly fell into the water. ‘The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force. Unless you’re near a Force-cancelling creature, then our entire religion kind of falls apart’. And what kind of madness is that anyway? ‘Life creates it, makes it grow.’ How can a life form negate its own life force?

Also, the light side and the Dark Side are not analogous to positive and negative flows of electricity. You can’t negate the power of the Force by pairing off every Jedi with a Sith. The Force is with those who have an instrumental part to play in the destiny of the galaxy, and this is why the Emperor could build an Empire and why Luke was able to blow up the Death Star and it is why Vader was able to overthrow the Emperor. There is a Napoleon quote that I think is applicable here:

“I feel myself driven towards an end that I do not know. As soon as I have reached it, as soon as I shall become unnecessary, an atom will suffice to shatter me.
Until then, all the forces of mankind can do nothing to stop me.”