Impressions

Waiting for the Barbarians initially impressed me for one specific reason. It was the not the plot or the characters or the themes that struck me, but the setting. The idea of a completely fictional setting reminds me of space opera-style sci-fi or high fantasy, but the nearly complete realism of the frontier of an unnamed empire lends elements of a historical novel. The overall effect is that of a hard fantasy (i.e. ultra-realistic and magic-free) novel.
But despite the “fictional” setting, it seems to me to be almost exactly like the Roman frontier in Britannia. Sure, the technology is different than that of the Romans, as are some cultural aspects, but the underlying concept is the same: a remote, cold settlement of an Empire that is mostly administered from a single far-away city. The Magistrate is a typical late-Roman Empire administrator: so far away from the central city that he does what he wants in a slightly eccentric manner without any fear of repercussions, even though his policies do not necessarily reflect the policies of the “Empire” as a whole.
The style of the magistrate’s narration is a major aspect of the feel of the novel. The magistrate sees a somewhat quixotic view of the barbarians that surround his settlement. He does not like to look at their downsides, and instead maintains a respectful fascination with them. His archeological expeditions and policies that are aimed at protecting the “innocence” (i.e. un-civilized-ness) of the barbarians reflect his respect for their culture. He sees them from almost an ivory tower. The soldiers and average people that deal with barbarians see them and dirty and uncivilized, but the magistrate chooses to see them as “noble savages.”
The really interesting part of this novel is it’s aspect as an allegory of a “real” Empire, despite it’s obvious similarity to that of the Roman Empire, especially during the late Empire during the reign of Hadrian.