The Eyes of a King, by Catherine Banner. I found it at the library and have never heard of it, but since it's British, it's not surprising. What I think this book does really well: it grounds the reader in the world and makes you feel like it really exists. It's a portal story--but the land the portal leads to is ours, is England. The main character lives in an alternate world, but it's really convincing and detailed, without being overbearing. The narrator feels like a real kid with real problems, and while yes, he lives in a post-revolution era (a bad revolution, that is), and yes, there are soldiers and sickness and heartache, the tone of the book doesn't come across as rigid and high strung as a lot of say, American dystopian feels. Instead of being glad I don't live there, I find myself hoping the main character can change things so that they get their country and freedoms back.
I haven't finished it yet so I can't say how well the author pulls all the different threads together. (Plus, it's the first of a trilogy.) But it's refreshingly different so far.