diff --git a/ext/libxml/ruby_xml_reader.c b/ext/libxml/ruby_xml_reader.c
index b8de931d..6da099a2 100644
--- a/ext/libxml/ruby_xml_reader.c
+++ b/ext/libxml/ruby_xml_reader.c
@@ -122,34 +122,31 @@ VALUE rxml_reader_document(VALUE klass, VALUE doc)
  */
 static VALUE rxml_reader_file(int argc, VALUE *argv, VALUE klass)
 {
-  xmlTextReaderPtr xreader;
   VALUE path;
   VALUE options;
 
-  const char *xencoding = NULL;
-  int xoptions = 0;
-
   rb_scan_args(argc, argv, "11", &path, &options);
   Check_Type(path, T_STRING);
 
+  const char* xencoding = NULL;
+  int xoptions = 0;
+
   if (!NIL_P(options))
   {
-    VALUE encoding = Qnil;
-    VALUE parserOptions = Qnil;
-
     Check_Type(options, T_HASH);
 
-    encoding = rb_hash_aref(options, BASE_URI_SYMBOL);
+    VALUE encoding = rb_hash_aref(options, BASE_URI_SYMBOL);
     xencoding = NIL_P(encoding) ? NULL : xmlGetCharEncodingName(NUM2INT(encoding));
 
-    parserOptions = rb_hash_aref(options, OPTIONS_SYMBOL);
+    VALUE parserOptions = rb_hash_aref(options, OPTIONS_SYMBOL);
     xoptions = NIL_P(parserOptions) ? 0 : NUM2INT(parserOptions);
   }
 
-  xreader = xmlReaderForFile(StringValueCStr(path), xencoding, xoptions);
+  xmlTextReaderPtr xreader = xmlReaderForFile(StringValueCStr(path), xencoding, xoptions);
 
+  // Unfortunately libxml2 does not set xmlLastError and just returns a null reader
   if (xreader == NULL)
-    rxml_raise(xmlGetLastError());
+    rb_syserr_fail(ENOENT, StringValueCStr(path));
 
   return rxml_reader_wrap(xreader);
 }
diff --git a/test/test_reader.rb b/test/test_reader.rb
index 569654b0..f7017e6f 100644
--- a/test/test_reader.rb
+++ b/test/test_reader.rb
@@ -60,9 +60,10 @@ def test_file
   end
 
   def test_invalid_file
-    assert_raises(LibXML::XML::Error) do
+    error = assert_raises(Errno::ENOENT) do
       LibXML::XML::Reader.file('/does/not/exist')
     end
+    assert_equal("No such file or directory - /does/not/exist", error.message)
   end
 
   def test_string