I wouldn’t really compare it to them so much, it’s more of a historical overview of the story with several more focused stories peppered throughout, more in the vein of Livy’s work I’d say.

If you do like epic poetry though, Tolkien actually wrote different versions of some of those stories in the Silmarillion as epic poems, though unfortunately I don’t think he ever finished any of them. They are all collected in one book, the Lays of Beleriand, and they tell slightly different versions of the complete stories told in the Silmarillion. If you like seeing the development of his work through its early stages, I’d recommend picking that up (and the other books in the 12 volume series!) after reading the Silmarillion.

EDIT: Didn’t realize autocorrect didn’t recognize Livy.

People over hype how hard it is, IMO. Just don’t go in expecting a traditional novel, it’s much more like a history book or chronicle. There’s very little dialogue in it. I feel like a lot of people get turned away because they’ve heard that it’s a very difficult read, but as long as you come at it with the right expectations, I don’t think it’s hard to get through.

Maybe just be prepared to keep a genealogy chart handy, there’s a lot of very similar names that you’ll want to keep straight.