Power Fantasy aka Shuangwen 爽文 vs Typical Novels with High and Engaging Stakes
It has occurred to me throughout my many years as both a reader and translator of novel translations community that there's quite a strong demand for power fantasies, or, to use the Chinese term for the genre, Shuangwen, even though typically power fantasies are criticized to be predictable, having low stakes and perhaps even heavily sidelining the rest of the cast apart from the overpowered main character.
A little background on the term Shuangwen: Wen 文 here specifically means literature, so it pretty much encompasses any kind of fiction, and Shuang 爽 means joy or bliss. Putting those together you get Shuangwen, literally fiction that elicits excitement/joy while you read it, which I find to be quite a fun way to call power fantasies.
For those of you who enjoy novels from either end of the spectrum, what do you like about them? Personally, I've been reading First Immortal of the Sword lately and I feel like it definitely qualifies as Shuangwen, with tropes like a main character hiding his power, arrogant young masters constantly trying to boss him around at their own peril and the rest of the cast idolizing and worshiping the main character. I can't quite tell why, but there has to be a reason I wasn't able to stop flipping through pages after 200 chapters in one week!
Then again, there's a part of me that feels guilty about enjoying that genre, especially when I compare such works with those that avoid the pitfalls of power fantasies. The stories I typically enjoy reading do still involve powerful main characters, like Desolate Era or something I've been working on lately, Destiny in Cinders. The characters are strong but they're frequently up against powerful enough threats that you still feel that there are high stakes and risks. The mere fact that it's not a given that the characters will be able to overcome those odds makes it so much more rewarding when they finally do.
How is it for you guys? Do you like one genre more than the other? Or is it a situation where you like both types of stories, power fantasy or not, just as much for their own merits?