From my miniscule knowledge of classic Japanese literature I can say that you are right. They are totally on a different level
Classical Japanese literature is a whole different story I had to do way more research for that class, compared to my modern Japanese literature classes
A light novel (ライトノベル raito noberu) is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students (young adult demographic).[1][2] "Light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called ranobe (ラノベ)[3] or, in the West, LN. The average length of a light novel is about 50,000 words,[4] the equivalent size of an American novel,[5] and light novels are usually published in bunkobon size (A6, 10.5 cm × 14.8 cm), often with dense publishing schedules. A distinguishing characteristic of light novels is that they are illustrated with anime and manga art style, often being adapted into such media. They are mainly published in separate book volumes, while some of them have their chapters serialized in anthology magazines before collection in book form, comparable to how manga are published.
...Thanks for replying to this resolved thread, but I believe the answer you posted didn’t really touch on the question? I didn’t ask WHAT a light novel was, I asked why it was NAMED that.
Because light novels are supposed to be the middling level between children's book and literary novels. It's supposed to be a light read, catering to the middle school and high school crowd who are too old to read children's novels and too young to read literary novels. Light novels are characterized as being 'lighter' due to it having less depth, less descriptive, less uncommon kanji and having shorter overall length while still delivering an engaging experience. The first few chapters of Ascendance of A Bookworm mentioned this briefly.