I feel like it would have ruined his character a bit. I like the idea of him being the underdog having his moment to shine. It made it more powerful imo.

That'd only work if it was the Neville Longbottom series rather than the Harry Potter series - Harry is too obviously the main character not to be the main hero and chosen one. I also like the parallels between Voldemort and Harry, "marking him as his equal", beginning with choosing the boy with the same blood status. Though I agree with Neville playing a pivotal role in defeating Voldemort by killing Nagini, since he was another potential "Chosen One".

Neville could have never been the Chosen One. The spell backfired because Lily could have saved herself but chose to save her son. And the reason she could have saved herself is because Snape asked the Dark Lord to spare her because he loved her. If it was Alice, Snape would not have made the request and therefore, even if Alice had tried to shield her son, it would have not have backfired and "defeated" Voldemort. It was always meant to be Harry.

Harry is also the descendant of Ignatus Peverell which is how he got the cloak. With Neville, the Hallow storyline would not have worked as well since he didn't have the cloak.

Also, without Harry, no Sirius, Remus storyline since their bond was with Harry because of his dad, not Neville. No Snape redemption arc since he loved Harry's mom, not Alice.

Also Harry is more confident and talented at fighting compared to Neville, which means he would have a much harder time against Voldemort. He gained confidence in the last few books, and even then it's because of Harry and the DA club. Even his biggest accomplishment (killing the snake) was because Harry asked him to.

So in conclusion, NO it wouldn't have worked and would have made a poor story. In fact, I'm annoyed at the suggestion. I think Neville is incredibly overrated.

No sorry, but except the last two years, he would have been terrible and couldn't have managed even a quarter of what Harry did.

I'm not hating on Neville but no-