I read a lot of YA. But in the past year or so, I've read less and less of it. It's an oversaturated market, and it's getting stale (or at least I think so). I was really impressed with this excerpt. It starts off a bit slow, but the story builds as you go on. I started to get a bit attached to the characters. I haven't read a book set in Iran, much less one set in the middle east from the perspective of a young person struggling to find himself. I think I would like to read the rest of this story.