Wild Dog City — Lydia West

In a city ruled by a pack of painted dogs, where shadowy monsters called hulkers threaten to kill and eat everyone, a young orphan named Mhumhi searches for his adoptive mother. Instead he stumbles upon a pair of young hulkers that need someone to care for them. Mhumhi begins to realize that what he has always been told is not necessarily true, and that the city hides dark secrets. But the further he digs down underneath the streets, the more dangerous his life becomes. . . (Darkeye volume one, softcover edition.)