Depends, because visual novel is an inconsistently applied term.
Some of them aren't interactive at all, and are thus more akin to movies or books.
Most of them are minimally interactive, and when they are, they're still pretty bad.
To my knowledge, only one good visual novel that capitalizes on all the strengths of the genre has ever been made, and it's so good most people don't realize that it's a visual novel.
That visual novel is Planescape: Torment.
