No wading, honest. I was reading Poetics and The Republic side by side for a paper, and though R is much much longer, it’s a lot more fun. Plato is logical, has loads of examples to illustrate his arguments, has a sense of a narrative, and what I really love, is its playfulness.
The only thing I’d advise against is reading it on your comp – that was really tiresome. So get your hands on a hard copy from the library. Good luck!