 It has been acknowledged as one of the best-known and most influential works of science fiction.The novel is considered a landmark for the genre, having been described by a 1960 review as one of the ten best genre books of 1959, in a 2009 review as a key science fiction novel of the 1950s, and as the best-known example of military science fiction.It was also a personal landmark for Heinlein; it was one of his best-selling books, and is his best-known novel.