In Join the Party: Why You Should Celebrate Rand’s 100th, Brian Caplan claims that “Ayn Rand was an excellent novelist”:
She is one of the greatest of the Russian philosophical novelists, in the tradition of Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. Yes, Rand’s characters exemplify philosophical positions. But she pulls it off; her characters — including the villains — are compelling, not “preachy” or “wooden.”
Riiiiggghhhht…
John Galt literally gives a three-hour speech spelling out Rand’s philosophy. I think that qualifies as preachy.