Your novel is good. Trust me! It's good and this agent wouldn't have requested it if said agent didn't sense that it was good. I attended a writer's conference yesterday and an editor from Simon & Schuster talked about how tough the market is right now.

The agent may have decided not to take on the project but that's not to say that another agent wouldn't take it on. Keep sending it out and in the meantime, you can keep writing. 2009 has many more surprises in store. You never know! :o)