Ayn Rand, while, rightfully, a very controversial political figure, was very much a great storyteller. Of course, it's not a good sign when your political ideology is so weird it can be the entire personality of a character in a story, however, Rand's best skill is the skill of persuasion. She could convince you through her writing that the sky is green, milk goes before cereal, and that objectivism is a perfectly normal political ideology that isn't controversial or ill-thought-out in the slightest. In terms of this being a melodramatic political soap opera, it works absolute wonders. The rivalry (and will-they-won't-they romance) between Keating and Roark is incredibly compelling to read about as well, seeing them both go completely opposite ways in life. Also, poor Dominique really got the short end of the stick this entire book.