Thank you Netgalley and Tor Teen for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

"The White Guy Dies First," edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker, is a captivating YA horror anthology that navigates through a spectrum of chilling tales, blending ancient terrors with modern villains while also offering a social commentary in the YA horror genre. The anthology delves into a diverse range of horror narratives.

Before going into this, I do want to provide a content warning for SA and also lots and lots of gore (as expected in a horror anthology). Some of the authors did not hold anything back in their descriptions, like in “Docile Girls.”

The stories feature intriguing characters, including a sweet girl with a diary of happy thoughts and everyday teen characters dealing with bigotry and ignorance in their lives when the horror aspects comes into play to enact revenge against those racist characters. The title of “The White Guy Dies First” is definitely true throughout these stories.

Like in all anthologies, there were some stories that worked better in the collection than others. I really enjoyed the Japanese revenge ghost in “The Golden Dragon” as well as the revenge depicted in “Docile Girls” and the reason for that revenge. Other stories, I think, would work better as longer pieces of work, such as “Heaven,” which I think would benefit from fleshing out the worldbuilding. Or in “The Protégé,” which seemed like a good set-up for a longer story. Overall, my favorite stories were “The Golden Dragon,” “Docile Girls,” and “Everything’s Coming Up Roses.”

All in all, I really enjoyed this anthology, not only because of the horror aspect because of the depiction of certain themes like racism and gender demonstrated throughout all the stories. I will definitely be re-reading this book during the Halloween season. While the gore might be a bit much in the high school English classroom, using some of these short stories to start conversations about those specific themes may help engage the students.

Thank you Tor Teen and Netgalley for the eARC, these opinions are my own. Big fan of Terry’s and have been super excited to read this anthology of horror stories! Like Terry I was raised with horror but it was nice to read queer horror stories, something I didn’t have much of growing up! Also nice to read stories where people of color weren’t killed off so quickly! And if you’re like me you’ll be rooting for the white guys to die! Each story touches on different areas of horror so there is something for everyone one! From monsters to dystopian , from magic to slashers! I also love how the stories fit into a larger plot the bookends them! If you’re looking for a little fear in your life check this stories out! Especially if you’ve always wanted horror stories that featured queer and people of color thriving! Highly recommend!

This was a solid collection of work, I feel like the stories could have been a little longer just for lasting impact

Book: THE WHITE GUY DIES FIRST (thank you netgalley and Tor publishing group for the arc- July 16th)
Review:
4.5⭐
I didn't know how to go about this review: as a whole, or each story. Ultimately, I'm going to review this as a whole. THE WHITE GUY DIES FIRST is a collection of short stories---but they don't fall short. They pack a punch. Each story is fast-paced and thrilling in their own way. These stories are a mixture of all things creepy: murdering clowns, urban legends, etc. THE WHITE GUY DIES FIRST was an quick and easy read(even though the all work together, I do think that you can skip around and stuff like that.) When I was reading, there were some bouts of confusion, but it didn't take away from the full stories. I think these are a must read if you want stories that flip the script.