[finvarre]

I'd like to nominate The Year of Our War by Steph Swainston. I have to admit that I've already read this novel, dwndrgn (sorry. I know you wanted us to nominate books we didn't read, but this one is new), and liked it so much that I bought and read its sequel in hardcover, No Present Like Time. Here is a short review from Publishers Weekly:

In British author Swainston's first novel, a well-written, if occasionally uneven, fantasy, three humanoid species coexist successfully in a medieval world under the rule of a benevolent, immortal emperor, supported by a circle of 50 immortal warriors. For many centuries, however, this civilization has been under attack by Insects, monstrous creatures who convert everything they conquer into the Paperlands, endless wastelands of bizarre white walls and tunnels. Now one of the immortals, Jant the Messenger, addicted to the hallucinatory drug called cat, which allows him access to an alternate universe, has discovered the Insects' secret. Despite his debilitating addiction, Jant must find a way to preserve his world against the monsters' increasing onslaught. Numerous bloody battles keep the action moving, and Swainston has a powerful sense of the surreal, but her domestic scenes tend to drag and verge on soap opera. Jant is an engaging antihero, though most of the other characters are fairly flat. This off-beat fantasy should appeal to fans of China Miéville's fiction as well as to those who remember Roger Zelazny's Amber series with fondness.

I can add that it's a witty novel, personally I liked it better than books by Mieville. Certainly the plot and characters are original (for instance, the main hero, Jant Shira, is the only person in the world that can fly) and the novel is well-written.