Yes it was until they defeated the Shadows and then it just sort of petered out.
Most of that was because of the last minute decision to produce the fifth season.
The end of the Shadow War was supposed to occur during the middle of the fifth season, with the last half of the season dealing with the aftermath.
During production of the fourth season, it began to look as there might not be a fifth so JMS had to decide which plot threads had to be wrapped up in case it was the last. The decision to produce season five came too late, so he had to come up with additional episodes to complete the series. That’s why it is an uneven season with good and not as good episodes.
Part of the issue was that the Shadow war was supposed to have gone on longer, but the studios/network looked like they were going to cut the series to 4 seasons. As a result, everything got crammed into season 4, and when season 5 was approved, they had to rush without the development that the rest of the series had.