How good is The Hobbit in comparison to the Lord of the Rings trilogy?

Hey
I wanted to read the trilogy, but my family already had the Hobbit, so I'm reading it first to see if I like it. I'm still at the beginning but it's a bit tedious. Is the trilogy a lot better than the Hobbit? Should I just be patient because The Hobbit gets better? Anything else I should know about reading these books?