I really liked The Floating Islands by Rachel Neumeier. Part of the beauty of this book is the seamless integration of the fantasy elements with the tragic realities and everyday mundanities plus just a touch of steampunk. Trei is an outsider whose mother was an Islander, giving him some claim to a life on the floating islands with his uncle, aunt, and cousin after the death of his family while he was away from home. He is welcomed by his remaining family though somewhat warily by his cousin Araene, who does not dislike him, but is jealous of the freedoms he has a boy. That is just one of those mundane details about the society, girls are not educated and have few freedoms, that really is not mundane after all, as Araene's disatisfaction with the status quo drives her to make some radical (for that society) choices about her life.
I have read quite a few books lately (The 13 Series and The Iron King series) in which the special powers of the characters are odd because the story takes place in our world. When the book is set in an alternate world, no time has to be spent discussing how odd the powers, creatures, devices etc. are, we can just get right into the heart of the story, with only minor exposition about the world and its inhabitants.
I am excited to read Neumeier's The City in the Lake. Reviews I have read say it is better than this one.