Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy.

I love a themed collection of short stories, am basically a sucker for them, and I tend to be a little biased towards them, which may be the case for this collection. I had to contemplate my rating because I read similarly themed collections recently that were absolutely fantastic (Never Whistle at Night and All These Sunken Souls), and I felt like this collection didn't quite reach my expectations for it.

My favorites from The White Guy Dies First:

The Golden Dragon by Kendare Blake - feels so much like a 90s teen horror movie, but with a j-horror spin. I'm a fan of Blake though, especially when she goes horror. I think this could be a fun novel by her.

Best Served Cold by H.E. Edgmon - my favorite of all of them, this one packs a real punch. I actually read it twice, so good and creepy.

Gray Grove by Alexis Henderson - found footage and cosmic horror are always my vibes, and I loved this take on both

Everything's Coming Up Roses by Tiffany D. Jackson - Jackson is a home-run hitter when it comes to writing. Like she's becoming one of my favorites. Her character work is just fantastic, and this is an excellent example of what she's best at. Plus it's the most fun of all the stories, imo I did this one twice too haha

The rest of the stories are good still, if maybe predictable or forgettable, but the standouts are sure to stick with you. As always I'm impressed overall and always excited to have found more new writers to explore! I loved the mix of newer talent and established writers.

I did get the audiobook galley as well, and each story is read by a different narrator, with proper representation - LOVED this. I don't think there were any bad narrators in the bunch either. As I said, I even "re-read" a few!

Plot- or character-driven? A mix Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The White Guy Dies First: A missing Film Director, never before seen films and the new Final Girl doesn't have to be a girl!
Finally an anthology that examines Hollywood's lack of gender diversity and cultural representation of both actors, and narratives in Horror films.
How hegemonic cisheteropatriarchy and capitalism have created a
Hollywood whitewashed standard in horror films in which racial and gender diversity can only exist within the confines of stereotypical tropes in a genre that is often characterized as progressive in representation. These authors are here to show us the stories we want to see where the 'black guy'doesn't die first - it's the white guys turn, the final girl can be any gender, and the villians aren't just queer, disabled or white men.. I love the audiobook, it was very welll narrated by a range of different people representative of the pov and narrator of each short story.

I was honestly not prepared for the perfection of this anthology. Every story in here was SO good. It's so rare I can find a anthology collection where every story was a 4-5 star. So many awesome horror/slasher tropes fill the pages. It's creepy, unsettling and gory as heck and I loved every single second of this book. I will 100% be buying a copy and re-reading it cause I cannot stop thinking about some of the stories. Literally the perfect book to pick up for Halloween!

The audiobook was really great! I loved all the narrators, they all did such a great job and really added to the vibe of the book!

Thank you so much Netgalley and the publishers for a copy of the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

The title mostly says it all: it's a horror anthology where the white guy dies first (or so it claims...there were a couple stories where I couldn't actually determine who was white and who died first?). It's definitely filled with stories about POC being the "final girl" or at least not the first to be killed off. But as with most anthologies, there were some real duds and some gems, and the duds far outweighed the gems here. The stars were mainly for Mark Oshiro, H.E. Edgmon, and Naseem Jamnia because their stories were by far the best. I think this stellar lineup of authors made my expectations way higher than they should have been, and I think this is a me thing because this happens to me a lot with anthologies. They just don't hit the same as some of these authors' full works do.

I thought this book was a great collection of scary stories where the trope of having the black guy dying first is flipped on its head, where The White Guys First. I thought the premise had hope, and I wasn't disappointed. I recommend this book for any horror film fanatic especially if you have had enough of the black guy dies first trope. I want to thank the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for giving me a copy of the audiobook, in return for an honest review.

[alc review]
Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for providing an alc in exchange for an honest review.
The White Guy Dies First releases July 16, 2024

2.5

This anthology is comprised of 13 horror short stories, all written by bipoc authors.
The concept (and title) is brazenly bold, and while I enjoyed the first four stories, the rest that followed fell flat in terms of sticking to a more widespread theme that was cohesive. I found that the depictions of racism and microaggressions were pretty stereotypical, which ended up being underwhelming as a bipoc reader.

All Eyes on Me: queer awakening, circus clowns, mirror fun house.
Hedge: grief, loss of a parent, sibling dynamic, hedge maze.
The Golden Dragon: family restaurant, sibling dynamic, attempted SA, multi-pov, revenge ghost.
Best Served Cold: ancestral trauma, cannibalism.
The Protégé: magic, next door neighbour.
Docile Girls: school dance committee, slasher.
Gray Cove: podcast episode.
Everything’s Coming up Roses: journal entries, restraining order, serial killer.
Heaven: gated community, dystopian, did not feel YA or on theme with any of the other stories.
Break Through Our Skin: transgender/nonbinary, academic, archaeology.
Wasps: residential dispute.
Hell Is Other Demons: demon summoning.
The Road to Hell: ghosts, sentient haunted house.

Short story collections can be a bit of a crapshoot, but I liked if not loved nearly all of the stories in this collection. I also appreciated that there was a bit of a frame narrative that the stories fit into. The White Guy Dies First collects 13 horror stories, some of which span other genres like science fiction and fantasy, by Black, Indigenous, and person of color authors including a number of queer ones. Overall I thought it was a very strong collection and I'll list my favorites...

The Golden Dragon by Kendare Blake follows a Korean girl deserving of revenge.

Best Served Cold by HE Edgemon puts a creepy twist on the Indigenous Skinwalker mythology in a way that is gory and cinematic.

Gray Grove by Alexis Henderson explores the dark side of true crime podcasts.

Wasps by Mark Oshiro has predatory gentrifiers and dark monsters

Definitely worth a read! The audiobook is excellent and has a full cast. I received an audio review copy via NetGalley, all opinions are my own.

I really enjoyed this horror anthology. The fact that the authors and narrators are people of color made it even better. This was such a diverse body of work. This book is labeled at YA horror, but I feel as though adults will enjoy this. I know vI enjoy a lot of YA books. I liked all the stories, some more than others. Yet they were all good stories. My favorite was Everything’s Coming Up Roses by Tiffany D. Jackson. I listened to this audiobook in between other books to break the stories up. Typically the black person dies first or early on in horror movies. My favorite part, outside of the people of color being featured, is that the arrogant white guy dies first!

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.

About a year or so ago I read the book The Black Guy Dies First, which was a really interesting exploration of of Black horror cinema. Now editor Terry J. Benton-Walker bring us a collection of 13 short horror stories that flips the script on that old trope. This is a wild collection of stories, some more disturbing than others, that explore all sorts of horrors. I love that this collection showcases diverse voices in horror, while not using diversity as just some kind of gimmick. Loved many of these stories. I liked the subtle unanswered mystery in ‘Hedge’, and absolutely loved the twisted brutality of ‘Best Served Cold’. No matter what type of horror you prefer, you’re sure to find a number of stories you’ll enjoy. The numerous narrators all delivered excellent performances. This one is definitely worth the time. I’d like to thank Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advanced copy of the audio version of The White Guy Dies First.

https://www.amazon.com/review/R5UG4UMIX7JFK/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_SRTC0204BT_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

*ARC Review*
I will be the first to admit I am not a horror person because I am a giant baby, however, this was so good and I’m glad I took a chance on it. This anthology covered horror across multiple mediums to provide social critiques which I think is a pillar of excellent horror. Each story had a unique voice and the overall theme of the anthology was so interesting. This has made me more curious about exploring horror in books.

I also would like to state that the multiple narrators is a huge selling point in this anthology, having a diverse narrator cast to read diverse stories is critical.

Thank you, Netgalley, for the ARC of this book!
This book had everything I was looking for. Fast paced, well executed stories.

Some of the stories were frightening and some were very thought provoking. I have read several of the authors and that is why I needed this, highly recommend.

Thank you Netgalley for the Audio version of this book! I was familiar with several authors before listening to this audiobook. I have also heard a few of the narrators on other audiobooks. This is a great assembly of narrators. Some do an excellent job bringing the story to life!
This is a series of short stories, authored by BIPOC writers. Each story is about someone besides the person of color dying first! Several are stories of power, disillusion, or survival. Several are scary, and the narrator does a great job helping you feel scared and disturbed.
This would be a great book for Summerween or to enjoy in October!

Superb. Simply a Superb collection of 13 stories. While all were good, I did favor two specifically: Everything's Coming Up Roses and Best Served Cold.
I actually wish thar Everything's Coming Up Roses was like a novella, because I could have done with some more to that story.
Best Served Cold. Now that's a terrifying horror story for sure. Even knowing that yellow eyes was going to turn out that way, just the way it was set up gave me chills. If there is another indigenous dark fiction anthology like Never Whistle At Night, this would belong right in it.
Mad respect to all the authors who helped with this collection. They were all so good.

Wonderfully narrated.

I appreciate the diverse storytelling from each author, including some favorites.
Each story was creepy, scary, spooky, some with satire, all around great stories to get lost in.
I think this could make a great movie or mini series, it would mirror AHS!

I really loved this anthology. From the prologue to the last story, I had a great time. Now, I didn't love all the stories as much as the next but overall, this was truly great.
I'm always scared I won't connect to the characters in a short story because it's so short but that really wasn't the case there.
Truly, just a great anthology with a great concept and great execution. I have to give a little mention to Tiffany D. Jackson's story because it was my favorite but I really loved this book as a whole.
I will look into more stories by all of these authors.

Rounding up to 2.5 stars.

I think what's really tough about books with multiple authors is that there are some that are impeccable and there are some that... aren't. I love LOVED the premise of this book and of course the title of it as well. It was incredibly refreshing to see unsurprisingly have the white guy... die first in each story. Some of the short stores shook me more to my core and others... others were just plain weird weird weird.

I'd recommend these from the book if you're going to pick it up:
Everything's Coming Up Roses by Tiffany D. Jackson
Break Through Our Skin by Naseem Jamnia
Hell is Other Demons by Karen Strong

Creepy creepy creepy stories. Had to stop and restart listening a few times because it was so disturbing.

The White Guy Dies First
🔮🔮🔮🔮✨/5
Four and a half of five crystal balls

Happy Publication Day!

I love this collection of 13 short stories. My favorites are Best Served Cold, Everything's Coming Up Roses, Heaven, and The Road To Hell. This collection includes stories of k*ller clowns, haunted houses and gardens, revenge, c**nibalism, magic gone wrong, evil spirits, sl*shers, unhinged mc's, cults and demons - all the good stuff.

The audiobook was phenomenal I loved all the performances of this multi-cast production.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor for the audio ARC of this stellar book!

I not a huge fan of anthologies but I every now and then they really hight for me. This one was luckily one of those books. I found most of the stories to be great 3 or even 4 star reads. A few of them didn't quite hit the mark with me. I'm not own voices here though so I may just be missing something. Either way this is a great anthology and definitely one I would recommend

The White Guy Dies First
Edited by Terry J. Benton-Walker

Thank you so much Tor Teen, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the gifted copy and free audiobook. #MacAudio2024

Blurb:
13 SCARY STORIES. 13 AUTHORS OF COLOR. 13 TIMES WE SURVIVED... THE FIRST KILL.

The White Guy Dies First includes thirteen scary stories by all-star contributors and this time, the white guy dies first.

Killer clowns, a hungry hedge maze, and rich kids who got bored. Friendly cannibals, impossible slashers, and the dead who don’t stay dead....

✨ My thoughts:
This collection of stories was so good and so fun! I read and listened to this collection and I loved both editions. As with most* anthologies, I enjoyed some more than others but overall they were all pretty dang strong and entertaining. The added humor to these horror stories was the perfect amount that truly set the tone for a good time. All with a handful of things in common, including a great message, there’s something in this collection for every reader. All you gotta do is pick your poison. I definitely want to get myself a finished copy to keep forever. If you enjoy spooky anthologies, looking to read more books by authors of color, or maybe just looking to partake in Summerween, this is the one you should pick up! The White Guy Dies First is out tomorrow, 7/16/24!

Happy reading 📖 🔪👻🤡🪦